From Grand Bazaar to Grandiose Shopping Malls: Image, Dream and Space in
the North of Tehran
Abstract
This paper offers a critical perspective on the growing tendency towards
luxury in the North of Tehran. Consumption, as the terminal act of
21st century, has created the demand for spaces of
leisure. The ideology of consumption emerges at its socio-spatial terms
within malls. A relationship between concepts of space, image, and dream
can be demonstrated in the shopping mall. Luxury as a concept that
stimulates feelings of exclusivity creates dream worlds filled with
images of abundance. In this paper, ‘from grand to grandiose’ represents
a shift in the socio-cultural dynamics and spatial production in the
city of Tehran. With the present situation and the growing urge towards
luxury, Tehran is seeking a new image. Citizens of Tehran are becoming
tourists in their own city; that is the contradictory nature of
producing spaces as mediators of consumer culture in North Tehran and
its impact on the City as a whole.