The Impact of Megamalls on the Neighborhood Identity in Tehran; Case study: Atlas Mall

Throughout history, markets have played a major undeniable role in shaping the cultural, national and native identity in Iranian-Islamic cities, so that the urban life is closely associated with the market. However, given recent changes in market dynamics and the emergence of modern supersized malls, serious concerns are being raised about the impact of these spaces on local identities. That said, the main purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of construction and activity of large-scale shopping centers on the collective identity in general and neighborhood identity in particular. The authors’ primary assumption is that neighborhood (as a level of place identity) is a variable influenced by urban textures and is weakened by elements such as megamalls. Atlas Mall project (under construction) in the Niavaran district was chosen as a case study to investigate this hypothesis. A futurological approach was adopted in the research with a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. The current status of neighborhood identity was measured by a survey with a sample of 300 respondents who were the residents of three (immediate) surrounding neighborhoods. Referring to academic expertise, referring to informants and local experts, and also the studies on the impact of three operating shopping centers (Tirazheh, Arg and Kourosh) were used to predict the potential effects of Atlas Mall on the residents’ neighborhood identity. The findings show that the neighborhood identity in the three neighborhoods is strong (above average) and the impact of Atlas Mall on the residents’ identity is associated with (and under the influence of) six other key drivers: consumerism, the presense of foreign brands, modern architecture, traffic and transportation, crowdedness, and the price of real properties. It can be predicted that the impact of Atlas Mall on neighborhood identity will be gradual, so some planning and policy-making efforts can be done, before and after its inauguration, by urban managers or the project managers in order to reduce the impacts.