From Grand Bazaar to Grandiose Shopping Malls: Image, Dream and Space in the North of Tehran

This paper offers a critical perspective on the growing tendency towards luxury in the North of Tehran. Consumption, as the terminal act of 21^st 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.