A study on the extent of Citizens’ local identity in Tehran

This investigation aims at studying the strength of local identity within neighborhoods of the city of Tehran. Previous researches show that few decades ago local identity and belonging was strong within neighborhoods and because of close and vast relationships between people the extent of deviance was so low in local communities. This close relationship and sense of belonging to local community among people also had different social functions and was a source of emotional support for residents of local communities. However in recent years profound physical and social changes have tended to weaken that sense of blonging and local identity and wash away its functions. Regarding these deep changes it seems necessary to study the local identity and sense of belonging in order to understand its new conditions and mechanisms; therefore we can plan to rebuild that sense of identity in new forms.This study makes use of classical social theories, identity theories; theories of place identity, particularly local identity theories, in order build a theoretical basis to study the extent of local identity in Tehran city. Our statistical society is all +18 citizens of the city of Tehran and we have used survey method and structured questionnaire to conduct research and gather data. Results show that demographical variables make no meaningful difference in local identity and overall the extent of local identity among Tehranian is moderate.