Commercial gentrification and neighbourhood change: A dynamic view on local residents' quality of life in Tehran

Abstract

While scholars have given considerable attention to the dramatic changes that residential gentrification and displacement bring, the phenomenon of commercial gentrification and its possible impacts on residents' quality of life remain relatively unexplored. Over the recent decades, many affluent and high-income neighbourhoods of Tehran Metropolis (the capital of Iran) are experiencing land-use change and unbridled development of commercial activities within the residential areas. However, this process could exacerbate the potential socio-economic conflicts in the neighbourhoods and lead to a decrease in the quality of life of residents. This paper aims to better understand the process of commercial gentrification and its impacts on the residents’ quality of life in a high-income neighbourhood of Tehran (Nasr Neighbourhood) by using a mixed-method approach including semi-structured interview, purposeful field survey, impact ranking, origin-destination (O-D) survey, and parking survey. The findings demonstrate that the latest Comprehensive Plan of Tehran and its land-use policies played a significant role in triggering the commercial gentrification which led to the clustering of non-local commercial activities along the main streets of Nasr Neighbourhood. Although the process improved the accessibility of residents to urban facilities and utilities and reduced their travel time/cost, the results yield the commercial gentrification that took place over the period of study (2002–2018) declined the residents’ quality of life by degrading the neighbourhood's privacy and socio-cultural homogeneity as well as its detrimental effects on the physical quality of the neighbourhood and residents' tranquillity and safety.