Death, home, housing, and changes in Iranian identity through the materiality of space and the geography of social relations. Generational change is reflected in architecture, household organization, property values, and historical memory. The modern city and recent speculative residential building developments offer opportunities for more privacy, shiny surfaces, and dedicated space for nuclear families. But the loss of more integrated mixed-class neighborhoods and extended family residential spaces puts different pressures on individuals and the shared urban fabric. One family’s generational and spatial transitions symbolize the changes in Tehran’s social and architectural possibilities.

While most scholars of criminalized governance in Rio de Janeiro attribute its origins to the prison-based factions which formed during the military dictatorship (1964–85), this chapter argues that these arrangements emerged before, in the homes and on the streets and alleyways of the city’s favelas and housing projects. This chapter investigates these origins by focusing on the first embryonic gangs in Complexo da Maré in the 1970s. Combining archival research with oral histories of longtime residents, the chapter documents the emergence of Maré’s gangs after a variety of other non-state actors that had previously provided governance were increasingly marginalized during Brazil’s military dictatorship and as the abusive practices of police became more widespread. Maré’s incipient gang networks quickly began to compete over valuable drug-selling turf and, as the more successful ones consolidated territorial control, they expanded their organizations and governance activities. The chapter concludes with a description of the history of Rio’s prison-based factions and the marriage between these two organizational forms as the favela-based gangs integrated into these citywide networks.

Public spaces, as places of consumption, are windows onto unequal economic structures. In this chapter, I discuss different aspects of real and perceived inequalities in Tehran. I demonstrate that massive structural changes, such as the expansion of infrastructure and public transportation, have facilitated access to different parts of Tehran and a more equal experience of the city, yet different forms of inequality persist and are reproduced. Many public spaces offer a variety of opportunities for using space, ranging from walking in a public park to eating in high-end restaurants, all in very close proximity. Depending on what can be consumed and where it happens, public spaces bring inequalities to the fore as different groups often segregate within the same public space, following patterns that usually correlate with their ability to pay for products and services. Thus, in Tehran, as much as urban development may appear to work as an equalizer – bringing different socioeconomic groups together in newly shared public spaces – it highlights economic and social inequalities and makes disparities even more visible.

The Introduction situates the book within the context of urban sociology, highlights the importance of the study, and outlines the arguments and contributions. I discuss my approach to the study of public spaces as multilayered sociological entities, rather than mere physical containers of events, people, and the built environment of cities. Studying how public spaces function at the city level, I argue that the meanings and values assigned to places are closely tied to where they are located and how they are used. Approaching public spaces as places where economic, political, gender, and social hierarchies are both reinforced and undermined, I show the complexity of social relations and coexistence in a rapidly changing urban environment. Key themes from urban sociology, sociology of culture, and inequality will be used to lay out the book’s arguments and contributions. I will also discuss my methods and provide an overview of the rest of the chapters.

In the conclusion, I bring the components of the book together, arguing that the findings in each chapter relate to a broad framework that explains the social functions and meanings of public spaces. I discuss how perceptions of self and others, in both the economic and cultural senses, act as essential components of urban experience. Through these discussions, this concluding chapter lays out the opportunities and limits of studying public spaces as a means of understanding social relations in changing urban contexts, and it suggests potential paths for future research.

This chapter provides an overview of Tehran’s urban development and shows how the city’s growth has been influenced by natural settings, cultural ideals, and economic and political processes. I explain the class structure of the city (moving from the north to the south, one perceives a gradual shift from wealthier neighborhoods to poorer ones) and its historical and geographical evolution. With an emphasis on grand urban visions, I discuss how natural, historical, and political forces have contributed to the unequal structure of the city.

Land value and commercial value capture can be implemented through programs. This chapter uses the example of transit oriented development, provides lessons learned and identifies how land value capture and commercial value capture fit into transit oriented development programs.

The rapid rate of urbanisation in Africa accompanied by a myriad of socio-economic, physical and environmental challenges and the persistence of these challenges have called into question the effectiveness of urban planning in managing this phenomenon to achieve an improved quality of life. This chapter, through an extensive review of the literature, examines the magnitude of Africa’s urbanisation challenges, the planning response to those challenges and the effects of planning on the quality of life. The chapter notes a peculiar urbanisation with rapid human agglomeration but without commensurate urban facilities and services. Urban planning is characterised by heavy reliance on western planning models that has made it less responsive to the socio-economic, cultural and spatial requirements of the people, thus making cities less liveable. The chapter calls for a re-examination of urban planning practice and suggests measures that could be explored to reposition urban planning for effective urban management in Africa.

A problem in the African urban development system is that the authorities have not always listened to the people. This chapter shows that dialogues between urban-dwelling people can serve as sources of ideas for city authorities and policymakers towards solving land and planning problems. It uses dialectics and dialogic enquiries to evoke the voices of people in African cities through short dialogues that reflect critical questions concerning urban planning and sustainable land governance. These brief dialogues constitute a walk-through of the texts that laid out a diverse set of statements probing the urban prognosis of five cities – Addis Ababa, Cairo, Kinshasa, Lagos and Windhoek – from five regions of Africa. Explicit and implicit scenarios within the dialogues present the inherent challenges in Africa’s urban land situation. The chapter concludes that the reimaging of African cities should be part of a reimagining process in urban planning.

Quay development had a fundamental impact on late nineteenth-century Eastern Mediterranean urban space. Large-scale development of the waterfront created not only a new facade for Izmir and Thessaloniki, but also precipitated new usages of urban space and modes of transport, labor, and leisure. They also led to a perceived bifurcation of the urban space into modernized and non-modernized quarters.

Although it is well known that the colonial state embarked upon creating a “rule of property” in India from the eighteenth century onward, the manner in which this project unfolded in early East India Company settlements such as Bombay was different from the territories that only later came under British control. In the latter, a confident and assertive colonial state executed its agenda; in the former, a tentative Company was concerned initially with asserting its sovereignty by asserting that all the land in Bombay belonged to it. In cities like Bombay, thus, a deep and enduring tension lay at the heart of the rule of property: between a state that endorsed a liberal vision sanctifying private property, on the one hand, and a state that jealously guarded its proprietary rights over lands, on the other hand. This tension was deployed by state and nonstate actors to pursue their own ends.

Chapter 4 discusses the evolution of the urban space of Jeddah in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century on the basis of maps, photographs, and documents. It shows the impact of the Ottoman modernisation efforts regarding the urban fabric. Thus, the economic lifelines of the city, such as the ports and markets, were regularly cleaned and expanded. New buildings also reflected the increase of the state functions of administration and health. The latter issue was given particular attention in the light of concerns over epidemics, most notably cholera. Another major and related concern was the provision of sufficient and clean drinking water. Urban growth is also seen in the evolution and growth of suburbs which were closely linked to the city.

We present examples to show that people and economic activities are unevenly distributed across space. The variations in density result in strong agglomeration in some important centres. We briefly analyse urban development and illustrate ‘spikiness’ at different spatial scales (global regions, countries, provinces, and counties). We also show that the distribution across space is not random but often displays a remarkably stable and uniform pattern across time and for various levels of geographical aggregation. These observations suggest that similar spatial economic forces are relevant for explaining agglomeration and the regularities of distribution and interaction across space.

We present examples to show that people and economic activities are unevenly distributed across space. The variations in density result in strong agglomeration in some important centres. We briefly analyse urban development and illustrate ‘spikiness’ at different spatial scales (global regions, countries, provinces, and counties). We also show that the distribution across space is not random but often displays a remarkably stable and uniform pattern across time and for various levels of geographical aggregation. These observations suggest that similar spatial economic forces are relevant for explaining agglomeration and the regularities of distribution and interaction across space.

Chapter 1 examines urban development in the predominately Judaean parts of Palestine. It demonstrates that urban development involved the gradual administrative, physical, and cultural transformation of Hellenistic settlements. Elite interests fueled urban development, but involved more than just consumption and exploitation. In Jerusalem, urban development stimulated trade and technological development, created jobs, and bolstered the pilgrimage economy centered on the Temple. The pace of urban development in the Galilee was slower than is usually presumed. Archaeological evidence shows that Tiberias witnessed considerable transformations in the first half of the first century CE, but Sepphoris did not become a proper city (polis) until the second half of that century. In order to complicate the assumptions about urban exploitation of rural producers, this chapter calls attention to the proliferation and relative stability of Galilean villages. It also highlights the diverse economic activities in semi-urban district centers like Magdala. Although most elites lived in cities, some resided in these district centers.