Government-Funded Residential Apartments and Informal Settlements

This article seeks to examine the development of urban residential spaces in Kermanshah in 1996-2016. The theoretical framework of the research is based on Lefebvre’s views on production of space. The research method is qualitative and the data collection technique includes observation, interviews, and evidence analysis. The findings of the research indicate that the city has undergone external growth in different directions, especially northeast, northwest, southwest, and east during this time. Natural population growth and rural and urban immigration to Kermanshah are of the main reasons for the growth of the city in this period. Three processes have played a part in the development of the residential spaces of this period. First, the government-funded residential apartments policy, which stimulated the growth of Pardis, Dolatabad, Danesh, and Kianshahr towns. These towns brought about the dispersal and disruption of urban space. Also, due to a shortage of substructural facilities and public space, they are devoid of urban life. Neighborhood identity has yet to be developed there, and people tend to stay in their houses. Secondly, the growth of informal settlements of Darederaz, Nookan, Karnachi, and Dehpahn enjoy more dynamism in daily life in spite of the lack of substructures and shortage of facilities. Thirdly, the economic and recreational functions of the new residential spaces have made their interaction with the interurban arcades inevitable. Additionally, it has brought about the growth of the phenomenon of Alley Life, defined as spending one’s free time in alleys near their residence, as a tactic of resistance against the shortage of recreational space in the informal settlements.