Restudying the Iranian (Islamic) City Analyzing the Institutions of Urban Governmentality in Iranian Cities and Their Influences on Urban Space During Qajar and Safavid Era

Analyzing the spatial features of Islamic-Iranian cities has been a dominant mode in studies related to urban history in Iran. The research investigates the socio-political structure of Iran after the Safavid dynasty up to the Constitutional reform in order to get a better understanding of different influential factors in governing cities. This research offers an alternative way of reading Islamic-Iranian cities through which urban space becomes a reflection of power relation and interaction between different institutions involved in urban government. Starting with introduction of state-society structure in pre-modern Iran, the article suggests three institutions that are directly involved in urban government. These three institutions are: the institution of the sovereign (Nahad-e- Hakemiatä, the institution of shari’a (Nahad-e Mazhab), and the institution of custom (Nahad-e-Urf) corresponding respectively to the state, religion, and communal affiliations. The negotiation and interaction between these three institutions were fundamental for maintaining secutiy, stability, public morality and social welfare of inhabitants in one coherent urban system. Accordingly, the produced space in traditional Iranian cities was a result of collective interaction between the state’s authority, customs, and religious culture realized in different functional zones of cities which are politico-administrative zone of citadel (arg), socio-economical zone of bazar and semi-autonomous zone of residential neighbourhoods.