Uneven Regional Development Research Articles

Сommodity and Money Flows in Russian Empire in the Second half of the Nineteenth Century: Network and Geoinformation Analysis

This article deals with the domestic interregional cash flows in the Russian Empire, which flowed in the opposite direction to the flows of commodities and services; thus, they can be used as proxies of the resource allocation and uneven development of regions. This study is based on the statistics of transfers between branches of the State Bank of the Russian Empire, and it conducts a network and geoinformation analysis for 1868, 1878, 1888, and 1898. The study proves that the top segment of the payment network, including ties with St. Petersburg and Moscow, was organized like a “double star” (i.e., a star-type network with centers in two capitals with a huge flow between them). From St. Petersburg, the largest proportion of payments for goods and services were dispersed throughout the country, while Moscow was primarily a nationwide center for buying goods or receiving payments. The metropolitan segment always serviced more than half of all settlements in the country. In the European part of the empire, the largest regional ties (beyond the capitals) looked like the flows in the “pre-railway” period (1868); then, the largest flows were redistributed along the principal railways (1878); later, the flows compressed during the depression (1888); and then, the intraregional (local) flows increased sharply due to the expansion of local railroads (1898). Large interregional flows in the Asian part of the empire were inferior in size to those in the European part; until the 1890s, their main axis was the ties between Tomsk and Irkutsk as well as access to Nizhny Novgorod in the European part (through Yekaterinburg from the 1870s onwards). In the 1890s, new segments appeared in the Far East, in the Steppe Region (Kazakhstan), and in Central Asia.

Global imbalances: Causes and consequences of manifestations in the modern economy

Subject. The article addresses imbalances as a characteristic feature of today's global economy. Imbalances restrain the development of national economic systems and impact negatively upon the global economy. Nowadays, there is a tendency towards sustainability of global imbalances. Objectives. The aim is to conduct a comprehensive study of reasons and consequences of global imbalances, elaborate methodological framework for increasing the effectiveness of global imbalances regulation to ensure the sustainability of the global economy. Methods. The study employs methods of scientific abstraction, induction, deduction, synthesis, and comparative analysis. Results. Imbalances in today’s world economy are a result of uneven economic development of certain countries and regions. The countries that lead the new technological mode are able to increase significantly their exports. They have large trade surpluses. On the contrary, importing countries face problems to reduce a trade deficit. Such a situation leads to sharpening the problem of international regulation of balance of trade deficits and surpluses. Conclusions. Uneven economic development is the main reason for imbalances. Its acceleration depends on creation of new technologies and new types of products. This process leads to structural shifts in national economies. Under these conditions, a group of countries exporting new products and technologies is formed. Balance of trade and balance of payments of these countries show a surplus. But imbalances have a negative impact on exchange rate formation mechanism, stability of international trade and capital movement. Such a situation implies policies to correct imbalances.

The Neglected Voices within Urban Village Regeneration as a Historic Urban Landscape: A Case Study of Nantou Village in Shenzhen

Rapid urbanization has resulted in uneven regional development in China’s urban villages. As well as providing affordable housing for low-income foreign residents, it also provides income for indigenous residents. Despite this, the government has often been plagued with problems such as poor living conditions, insufficient public services, and illegal construction. Despite its potential for improving environmental quality and bringing economic benefits to urban villages while maintaining urban culture, the Historic Urban Landscape concept remains problematic for a number of reasons. Taking the Nantou Village renovation project as an example, we conducted semi-structured interviews with residents, combining literature review and field observations, with the aim of understanding the actual living conditions and spatial rights of the residents after the project’s renovation. As a result of the project, visitors have been attracted, economic benefits have been generated, and the quality of the environment has been improved. Even so, it has not improved the residents’ sense of belonging and has neglected to address the issue of high living costs faced by the original low-income residents. To balance excessive increases in rent, the government should either provide affordable housing for low-income foreign populations, or provide differentiated rental products.

Структурные изменения экономики регионов Северо-Запада России: институциональный фактор

Balancing out uneven regional development and territorial disparities is an urgent task, and its solution requires considering the geo-economic features of various parts of Russia’s spatially structured territory. This study aims to describe trends in the economic space transformation and structural changes in the economy of the North-Western Federal District. The economic space transformation is explored theoretically and methodologically, drawing on economic theory and geography, the concepts of cluster and power generation cycles, regional economics and other theories. Institutional and economic research of income capitalisation and the role of the institutional factor is carried out, along with regional gross value added (GVA) analysis by type of activity. The study also investigates the movement of capital (rent) in the economic space. There are several noticeable trends: the Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions, the Komi and Karelia Republics have diversified their economies by developing manufacturing and mining, and the Murmansk and Pskov regions by stimulating agriculture. Regional factors generating rent at significant transaction costs are shown to be affected by institutional influences. It is concluded that structural changes in the economy of the Russian North-West regions are wavelike in nature. The index of regional GVA and industrial market development points to the existence of a transition zone between the structural phases of the wave, most of the transition taking place in 2014. The second phase of the wave was triggered, along with new structural changes, by the international sanctions and growing confrontation, which reduced capital outflow and affected further structural changes in the regional economy.

ЦИФРОВИЙ РОЗВИТОК РЕГІОНІВ УКРАЇНИ: ТРЕНДИ ДОВОЄННОГО ПЕРІОДУ ТА ПЕРСПЕКТИВИ ПІСЛЯВОЄННОГО ВІДНОВЛЕННЯ

The article is devoted the principles of digital development of the regions of Ukraine, considers the trends of regional digital transformation of the pre-war period, the challenges of the war and their impact on the digital development of the regions, identifies a number of barriers to the digital develop-ment of the regions, and also analyzes the potential post-war trends of the digital development of the regions. The trends of digitization in the pre-war period are identified, as well as the directions of the post-war recovery of the economy of the regions of Ukraine and the role of digital tools in these pro-cesses are outlined. Special attention is paid to the transformation of trends in digital processes and the importance of introducing new digital services due to a full-scale invasion. The effectiveness and effi-ciency of digitalization of regional economic systems was determined and a predictive socio-economic assessment of the specified processes was provided.Digital development of regions remains a priority area of state initiatives to build a digital state. In the conditions of military operations, ensuring uninterrupted, safe access of citizens to digital ser-vices, as well as the development of regional communities on the basis of digitalization, is the primary task of the state. The beginning of the digital transformation of the regions of Ukraine will be laid in the implementation of a number of projects and legislative support for the development of the regions, how-ever, the beginning of military operations led to the appearance of a number of barriers and obstacles, causing an increase in informational and psychological pressure on society, as well as the need to ensure the safety of the use of digital solutions. Despite this, in the process of digital transformation of theregions during the wartime period, a number of goals of the post-war development of the regions were achieved, it is possible to highlight the spread of joint programs and projects with partner countries to ensure the continuity, accessibility, efficiencyand security of the provision of public services, the crea-tion of regional development plans, focused on the regional specificity and capabilities of communities with further state integration of solutions and dissemination of best practices in order to overcome the uneven development of regions. At the same time, the state's activities should be aimed at stimulating the search by business representatives for digital solutions for business development, as well as the development of citizens' digital skillsand competencies.

Causes, evolution and consequences of uneven regional development in the PRC in the modern period of history: an overview of approaches and practices in Chinese science

This article examines the historical conditions, causes, evolution and options for solving one of the topical problems of the spatial historical dynamics of China in the late XX - early XXI centuries. - uneven regional development. The purpose of this article is to review in Chinese the works of such Chinese scholars as Wang Ke, Wang Feng, Wang Yunhui, Gan Chunhui, Li Zhuni, Liang Longbin, Xia Wanjun, Fan Jianyong, Hu Dali, Hu Shudong, Tsai Fang, Zhou Zhe, Zhu Degui, Chen Rong, Chen Changshi, Shi Lin, Shen Zhongqiang on the history of the uneven regional development of the PRC and highlighting the leading approaches and practical recommendations for overcoming disproportionate trends in the regional historical and modern development of China based on the use of system analysis and a comparative historical method. The main factors that significantly affect the uneven regional development of China in the modern period of history include: uneven industrial development, income distribution by provinces, foreign investment, agriculture, human capital and labor mobility.

The Shaping of Environmental Identity in Germany and Italy: Actors and Practices

One of the important components of environmental policy in recent years is the formation of environmental identity. This article analyzes the German and Italian practices of ecological identity formation, identifies the actors of such a policy, and evaluates the prospects of ecological identity formation in the European Union. Based on case studies and in-depth interviews, the author describes the experience of implementing the Zero Waste concept in the Italian municipality of Capannori and the coastal German city of Kiel. The conclusion that the success of measures to form an environmental identity is influenced by the nature of political culture, the level of economic development, regional development features, but also by targeted environmental education initiatives and the success of grassroots practices in the environmental sphere, is substantiated. As the research has shown, in promoting eco-practices at the local level in Italy the leadership factor plays a large role, including in the framework of protest eco-activism, in Germany ‒ the self-organization of local communities in cooperation with the city authorities. The politicization of environmental identity contributes to the consolidation of citizens around environmental priorities. However, factors such as generation gaps and uneven regional development, as well as the rise of populism, can contribute to deepening divisions and confrontations around the environmental agenda.

Spatiotemporal Distribution Patterns and Local Driving Factors of Regional Development in Java

Although uneven regional development has long been an issue in Java, most parts of the territory experienced an increased level of development over the last two decades. Due to the variance in local background and spatial heterogeneity, the driving factors of the development level should, theoretically, vary over space. Therefore, in this study, we aim to investigate the local factors that influence the development level of Java’s regions. We used the spatiotemporal pattern analysis, ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, and geographically weighted regression (GWR), utilizing the regional development index as the predicted variable, and the social level, economy, infrastructure, land use, and environmental barriers as predictors. As per our results, it was found that the level of development in Java has improved over the past two decades. Metropolitan areas continued to lead this improvement. All the predictors that we examined significantly affected regional development. However, the spatial pattern of the local regression coefficients of Human Development Index (HDI), landslide, paddy conversion, and crime shifted due to changes in the spatial concentration of development activities.

Evaluating urban ecological civilization and its obstacle factors based on integrated model of PSR-EVW-TOPSIS: A case study of 13 cities in Jiangsu Province, China

Conducting urban ecological civilization (UEC) evaluation and identifying its key obstacle factors will help to formulate regionally differentiated ecological civilization promotion paths. From three dimensions of “pressure-state-response” (PSR) and four aspects of “Economy-Resources-Environment-Society”(ERES), this paper constructs an extended PSR index system of UEC to reflect the interactive relationship between humans and nature, and integrates the exponential variable weight (EVW) method, technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) model and obstacle degree (OD) model to evaluate and diagnose the regional differences and obstacle factors of UEC in Jiangsu Province. The results show that the performance of UEC in each city shows an increasing trend during the inspection period, but there are significant regional differences. The performance of UEC construction in Jiangsu Province has improved year by year, but the increase in its response index is relatively small, indicating that the response capacity of UEC in Jiangsu Province needs to be strengthened urgently, and its fundamental lies in reversing the GDP-oriented performance evaluation model. The key obstacles to the construction of UEC vary depending on the uneven regional development, but there are some common obstacles in the construction of UEC, such as clean energy investment, urban residents’ water supply, foreign capital utilization, land resource protection, population education quality, etc. It is recommended that local governments improve the top-level system design of UEC construction, avoid a one-size-fits-all governance model, and adopt differentiated ecological civilization control measures according to local conditions.

ASSESSMENT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF REGIONS POTENTIAL

The article describes the results of a multidimensional comparative analysis of the socio-economic potential of the regions of Ukraine, both the strongest and weakest ones. The concept of research based on categories such as change and structure is used. The changes occurring in the structure of complex objects and systems are studied. These changes can affect the quantitative results, and thus increase or decrease certain characteristics of the object, as well as the qualitative aspect, i.e. the creation of new properties of the object. The process of socio-economic development is characterized by a lack of uniformity in space. Due to different conditions and changes in internal and external factors, development processes do not occur with the same intensity in each area. Thus, based on research, it is determined that in Ukraine there is uneven regional development, which is due to the high differentiation of economic activities and heterogeneity of the economic structure of the territories. All this justifies the need to improve the measures and levers of state regulation of regional development and create effective mechanisms to reduce its disparity. The results of the analysis of strengths and weaknesses of the region according to the proposed set of 26 indicators, grouped in the following modules: economic policy, labor and taxation, family and social policy, stimulating activity, are represented. Thus, the heterogeneity of regions is observed both in the development of a particular region and in comparison, with other regions of the country. Such inequality significantly affects the functioning of the state, the structure and efficiency of the economy and socio-economic policy. This leads to an increase in the number of depressed regions and the growth of interregional contradictions. Taxonomic analysis of spatial differentiation of the level of socio-economic development in Ukraine is used. Gaps in the socio-economic level of development in the regions were found for assessment based on multidimensional analysis. The analysis gives an accurate and deep idea of the socio-economic development of the regions. Keywords: socio-economic potential, regional development, economic development, spatial differentiation, heterogeneity of regional development, innovations.

National elections, sub-national growth: the politics of Turkey’s provincial economic dynamics under AKP rule

AbstractDespite a large body of work on the impacts of institutions on subnational growth and development, economic geographers have, in the last decades, frequently overlooked the role of politics and, in particular, that of national political economies. Drawing on the political science literature, the article argues that studying national political dynamics is still key to understand the cumulative process of uneven regional development. Using data from Turkey over the period 2004–2016, the article shows how national electoral politics and government actions have significantly affected provincial growth patterns. The impact is substantive and increases in election years. Results also suggest that the central government may have influenced sub-national growth trajectories in different ways, including boosting the construction sector and expanding public employment.

Government-sponsored Venture Capital and Corporate Financial Constraints: Wish-fulfilled or Backfired?

Has the establishment goal of China’s government-sponsored venture capital to alleviate corporate financing difficulties achieved? This paper conducts a systematic study on this based on the micro data of listed companies and manually collected government-sponsored venture capital data. The empirical results steadily show that government-sponsored venture capital can effectively alleviate the degree of subsequent corporate financial constraints, thus the Chinese government’s involvement in venture capital activities has been effective and largely achieved the original purpose for which it was established. Furthermore, government-sponsored venture capital with a higher shareholding ratio, multi-joint investments, and higher political levels has a stronger effect on alleviating the financial constraints of funded enterprises. Heterogeneity analysis shows that government-sponsored venture capital has a stronger effect on enterprises in the environment of underdeveloped economy and low institutional quality, enterprises facing high environmental uncertainty and high competition, private enterprises, and enterprises in the period of growth and turbulence, the feature of which is like “timely help”. The mechanism test shows that government-sponsored venture capital can not only significantly reduce the degree of corporate information asymmetry through the role of certification, but also exert the resource effect of political connections, including significantly promoting bank-enterprise relations and the ability of enterprises to obtain trade credit, and increasing the government subsidies that enterprises receive, thereby reducing the financial burden of enterprises and alleviating their financial constraints. The analysis of economic consequences shows that government-sponsored venture capital can significantly reduce the cost of equity capital and debt capital for the external financing of enterprises, helping to improve the problem of expensive financing for enterprises, and contributes to the sound development of enterprises in innovation and operation. However, government-sponsored venture capital has not played an effective role in supervision, and cannot alleviate the principal-agent conflicts of enterprises, especially it will lead to a significant increase in the first type of agency costs, and the increase in executive compensation plays an important role. Therefore, in the future development of government-sponsored venture capital, it is necessary to grasp the degree of “government role” intervention, and improve the supervision and management mechanism of government-sponsored venture capital over enterprises. At the same time, taking into account the uneven development of regions, it is important to provide appropriate and necessary assistance to the development of government-sponsored venture capital in the central and western regions, so as to promote the rapid development of government-sponsored venture capital in the new era.

Investigation of the processes of regional convergence and divergence in the development of the higher education system

Purpose of the study. The study of uneven regional development is necessary to describe the dynamics of changes in the conditions of economic activity in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, to compare them, and in particular to identify problems associated with inequality in providing the territories with infrastructure for training specialists with higher education. The system of higher education is considered in the article as one of the institutions, the state of which characterizes the socio-economic development of the region, provides human resources to the economy of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation. The purpose of this study is to develop methodological approaches to the study of the processes of divergence / convergence of regions in the field of higher education. Materials and methods. This paper provides a review of works devoted to research in the field of assessing the dynamics of differentiation of the subjects of the Russian Federation by various indicators. Methods of statistical data analysis were applied: variance, variation coefficients, Gini coefficients, Theil indices were calculated for statistical data on the number of university students in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in different time periods. Graphs reflecting the dynamics of changes in the Gini coefficient, Theil index were built. Microsoft Excel was used to process statistical indicators. Results. This article describes methodological approaches to the analysis of statistical data characterizing trends in the development of the higher education system in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and presents the results of a study of changes that have occurred in the period from 1995 to 2019 in the Russian Federation in the spatial concentration of the number of university students. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the developed methodological approaches to the study of the processes of divergence / convergence of regions and obtaining new data on the inequality of the spatial concentration of higher education in the Russian Federation. As a result of the statistical analysis, we obtained data on the presence of three periods with different dynamics of changes in the number of university students in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation: from 1995 to 2005, the inequality between the regions in this indicator decreased; from 2006 to 2012 - stabilized, slightly changing; from 2013 to 2019, there has been an increase in regional inequality in terms of the indicator under study.It was revealed that the predominance of the processes of divergence or convergence of regions according to the parameter «the number of students of educational institutions of higher education per 10,000 population in the subject of the Russian Federation» is observed in the same periods. Analysis of interregional variance for this parameter in different time periods showed the dependence of the variance value on the average value of indicators of all regions. Conclusion. The described methodological approaches to the study of the processes of divergence / convergence of regions in the field of higher education can be used to assess a large amount of statistical data, diagnose regional inequality in this area, and can be used as the basis for substantiating managerial decision-making at the level of public administration in education.

Asymmetry (inequality) of spatial development in Russia

The uneven development of countries and regions is one of the major topics of geography. Since its subject, as defined by N N Baransky, is the difference from place to place. Considering economic activity, socio-economic processes and indicators in the territorial aspect, we are confronted with the inequality of their distribution across the territory. This problem is particularly relevant, because the objective reality, due to the diversity and uniqueness of local conditions, as well as historical, economic, political reasons. Currently, there are various approaches to measuring socio-economic asymmetry. The “centre-periphery” model is remarkably resilient and flexible, and is able to maintain its properties under different socio-economic conditions. Based on statistical analysis (1995-2018), GRP per capita by regions of Russia was examined, as well as correlation coefficients.

The Association of Residence Permits on Utilization of Health Care Services by Migrant Workers in China.

Due to the limitations in the verifiability of individual identity, migrant workers have encountered some obstacles in access to public health care services. Residence permits issued by the Chinese government are a solution to address the health care access inequality faced by migrant workers. In principle, migrant workers with residence permits have similar rights as urban locals. However, the validity of residence permits is still controversial. This study aimed to examine the impact of residence permits on public health care services. Data were taken from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS). Our results showed that the utilization of health care services of migrant workers with residence permits was significantly better than others. However, although statistically significant, the substantive significance is modest. In addition, megacities had significant negative moderating effects between residence permits and health care services utilization. Our research results emphasized that reforms of the household registration system, taking the residence permit system as a breakthrough, cannot wholly address the health care access inequality in China. For developing countries with uneven regional development, the health care access inequality faced by migrant workers is a structural issue.

Contorting transformations: Uneven impacts of the U.S.–Mexico automotive industrial complex

Contrary to the triumphalist rhetoric that describes the automotive industry as a lever for both regional development in North America and industrial upgrading in Mexico, this article argues that the formation of the Mexico–U.S. automotive complex has instead been consolidated on the basis of longstanding processes of uneven regional development. To make this argument, the paper examines how global economic restructuring, trade policies, domestic economic development processes, transnational firm decision making and the maintenance of the geopolitical border have reproduced extreme wage differences between the United States and Mexico, resulting in the creation of a regional automotive sector that is both highly integrated and highly unequal. In this scenario, both nations are home to profoundly different industrial landscapes: the U.S. hosts the highest value-added links of the production chain, monopolizing processes of innovation and scientific and technological knowledge production, while in contrast, Mexico manufactures the most labour intense and lowest value-added links of the automotive production chain. From this perspective, the Mexican economy can be essentially understood as an export manufacturing platform which derives its ‘competitiveness’ from the aggressive industry maintenance of low wages.

Оценка динамики уровня социальной безопасности российских регионов

Introduction. For a more accurate assessment of dynamics and achievement of set goals in the social sphere, research on methodological issues of social security and the development of indicators system for its assessment and monitoring are relevant. Theoretical analysis. The article examines theoretical aspects of the “social security” definition, identifies approaches to the definition of this concept and methodological difficulties in interpreting the assessment of the regional systems’ socio-economic security. Empirical analysis. To analyze the dynamics of the Russian regions’ social security level, an integral index was compiled on the basis of statistical indicators and a social security rating of 82 Russian regions was built. It includes 16 indicators in 5 groups, characterizing the main sphere of social security. Results. The revealed polarization of the Social Security Index values indicates the uneven social development of Russian regions, which is a significant threat to the economic security of the national economy as a whole and economic development in particular. Conclusions. The analysis made it possible to assess the level of Russian regions’ social security, to compile a rating and grouping of Russian regions according to the level of social security.

P‐3.6: A training system for the rescue process of acute and severe diseases based on AR

China is one of the countries with the most serious natural disasters in the world. Hidden dangers and risks of all kinds of accidents are intertwined and superimposed, and the factors affecting public safety are increasing. It is urgent to strengthen the construction of emergency medical rescue capacity. During the nineteenth collective learning of the Central Political Bureau, general secretary Xi Jinping stressed that we should strengthen the capacity building of aviation emergency rescue and improve the airspace guarantee mechanism for emergency rescue. As the most important aerial medical evacuation platform, helicopter has the advantages of fast response, strong mobility, wide rescue range, direct arrival at the first line of treatment, etc. it has become an important means of modern rescue, and also the only way to open life treatment in case of land damage. From the international experience, the helicopter emergency medical system established by most developed countries plays an important role in disaster relief and anti‐terrorism. China has a large population, complex terrain and uneven regional development. In case of disasters, the casualties are often more severe and the demand for treatment is more urgent. It is urgent to establish an aviation medical emergency rescue system suitable for the national conditions and with helicopters as the main carrier, and accelerate the research and development of key technical equipment.In recent years, more and more people realize the necessity and benefits of the application of interactive technology for aviation medical simulation training in major events and disasters. Interaction refers to the transmission and exchange of intelligence, data, data and technical knowledge in all aspects of nature and society. From the perspective of information theory, local chronicles are a tangible text information carrier, which collects all kinds of information in a certain region. Interactive technology is to use certain means to achieve the purpose of interaction, and gradually enter the era of multi field application! In thefield of aviation medical rescue, it is in urgent need of penetration and integration.This paper mainly develops an AR emergency rescue process training system. Through the creation of data sets, action recognition based on computer vision and deep learning, the selection of recognition model and action capture, the action is recognized based on AR, and then 22 joint points of human hand and upper arm skeleton are taken to label the data space position. Through the above learning results, we can get the real‐time hand recognition based on depth information Upper arm skeleton output. Neural network is used to recognize human skeleton action. The skeleton information coordinates are imported into RNN neural network for deep learning. Finally, based on the complementarity of CNN and LSTM, combined with the idea of dual stream structure network, the action recognition is carried out.

The Regional Uneven Development and the State Intervention to Reshape the Spatial Hierarchy

The central question in this study concerns the way in which the state intervention is strong enough to reverse the tide of regional uneven development that has been intentionally created by the state. To answer the question, we conduct a case study of the Innovation Cities in South Korea. We use the K-means Cluster Analysis and a Two-way Analysis of Variance with well-defined three indices on regional economic competitiveness. The results reveal that the development of Innovation Cities does not have a desirable impact on converging the regional disparity between core and periphery regions. At best, the regional gap has not widened. The outcomes also imply that the trickle-down effects have not been observed during the time-period of study. The findings suggest that policymakers carefully consider diverse full-factors toward periphery regions with consideration of the regional heterogeneity rather than focusing on the homogeneous approach.

Narratives of Home on the Fringe of Tehran: The Case of Shahriar County

Abstract This paper focuses on the notion of home as a narrative of one’s lived experience that clashes with planners’ understanding of housing and housing policies, using as a case study Shahriar County, located on the western fringe of the metropolitan area of Tehran. Following Heidegger, the feeling of home is a fundamental aspect of human existence. From this perspective, housing policies and spatial planning impact the sense of home in a geographical context. The empirical analysis is based on an overview of institutional changes since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and interviews with inhabitants of Shahriar. The results indicate that Iran has developed a particular form of neoliberal, speculative model of urban development, in which urban segregation and seclusion and uneven regional development are noteworthy. Consequently, the sense of home is structurally undermined on the metropolitan fringe, generating a feeling of living on the edge of the world.