Explaining of the Socio-Occupational Segregation in Space Organization of Tehran Metropolis (From the Perspective of Neoliberal Restructuring of Space)

The structure and spatial organization of cities are constantly evolving under the influence of political, economic, and social issues. In other words, the role of power and economy in the spatial transformation of cities is undeniable; globalization as a specific reading of the political economy of the space is based on the marketing policy of neoliberalism and the domination of a large part of the world by removing border and state restrictions. In addition to these political-economic changes, urban spaces also change, so that what remains of neoliberalism in the urban space is the existence of unequal relations and the division of the city into the two poles of the poor and the rich. which is even more acute in the urban spaces of the southern countries (as raw material suppliers). Now, given the fact that Iran based on the oil economy has been closely linked to the global capitalist system, the aim of this study is to investigate the spatial separation rate in Tehran metropolis. This issue has been addressed through the distribution of occupational groups in the Tehran metropolis.In rentier government, due to the huge revenues generated by purely rent-seeking activities and without productivity, efficiency and economic dynamics decreases. Therefore, as a source of economic and political power, the government, by utilizing its legislative power, restricts the functioning of market and provides rent-seeking opportunities to his supporters and it influences the fate of the social classes, which ultimately leads to the formation of a social class of oil. Therefore, abuse of oil revenues leads to an unequal growth in the purchasing power of urban society and fundamental changes in the economy. Thus, in an oil-based economy, wealth is concentrated among the groups that are in contact with the state and corruption is high.Therefore, given the characteristics of the raw material supplying countries in general and the oil producing countries (government and rent economy) and Iran in particular, there are certain economic and political conditions that lead to the socio-economic gap so the question is how did the distribution of socio-occupational groups occur during the neoliberal restructuring of space at the Tehran metropolitan? It is assumed that the distribution of upper and lower occupational-social classes at the Tehran metropolis has been polarized.In this regard, it is necessary to understand the concept of space and the process of the impact of power and rentier state on spatial organization. Since the main concern in this research is the structure of economic relations, the process of capital accumulation in the form of fixed capital and the spatial consequence of these relations at the Tehran metropolis, the political economy of space will be the research lens of this study.The political economy of space focuses on the emergence of settlements and tries to engage with the root of the problem. In the perspective of the political economy of space, the idea is that the perspective of the space is closely related to the mode of production and the social relations. In this theory, the historical development of the urban form is due to the need to create the necessary conditions for the production and reproduction of the capitalist system. The conditions required for these needs place urban policies in the interests of the capitalist class. The tendencies of political economy of space are divided into four categories: constructivism theory, praxis theory, dependency theory, world system theory and urbanization. The emphasis of this research will be the world system approach.In the process of globalization, some countries produce according to their conditions, and some countries are consumers or it can be said that some countries export raw materials and some produce. Since the selected space for globalization in cities is limited and its promotion is limited to a small corpus, Therefore, class divisions are intensifying in the southern economy, and poverty and unemployment grow with high-paying jobs. Finally, these factors lead to the formation of conflict and class divisions, which can be described as a space gap with the urban alphabet.

For this purpose, a quantitative methodology and descriptive-explanatory analysis have been used. Socio-spatial separation factors have been used to study the concept of spatial segregation; Thus, the distribution of occupational groups has been used to investigate the segregation at the in Tehran metropolis. Spatial analysis of job clusters formed at Tehran metropolis will lead to a judgment on the spatial gap of Tehran metropolis.

Calculation of different segregation factors for Tehran metropolis showed that the separation of various social groups in this metropolis cannot be ignored. While the south of Tehran metropolis is more in disposal of low-class, high-class employees are highly inclined to reside in the north of the city. Although middle and lower class employees are also located in northern Tehran but in contrast, the proportion of occupancy of high-class employees in the southern regions is significantly low.Another point is the lower number of middle social group jobs compared to the upper and lower groups. This means that most employees of Tehran metropolis belong to the upper or lower social group. The continuation of these conditions reflects an increase in the class gap in Tehran metropolis.

Due to speculative tendencies in the production of urban spaces and on the other hand, due to the concentration of capital provided to particular groups and capitalists, a large part of the rents generated by urban activities are absorbed by the capitalist classes and because of high profits in more valuable areas of the city, these groups tend to invest more in these areas and the concentration of wealth and capital in the domination of the rich capitalists of the society leads to a social and class divide. Space reflects this gap as a mirror of social relations and the social gap emerges as a spatial segregation.