Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
University of Tehran, School of Urban Planning
Abstract
Urban planning, functioning as a political-spatial practice, represents a complex arena of discursive struggles and the nexus of power and space, reflecting the dominant ideologies governing the political-economic structure of each era. Aiming to scrutinize the interplay between national development plans, political-economic currents, and global urban planning paradigms, this study employs Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory to analyze twelve national development plans (from 1948 to 2028). The guiding questions of the research are: (1) How are urban development policies within national development plans articulated with the dominant political-economic discourses of their time? and (2) To what extent are these policies aligned with or in opposition to global urban planning paradigms? The findings indicate that planning in Iran has shifted its trajectory from a discourse of state-led modernism and infrastructural development in the pre-revolution era, to a discourse of distributive justice, and subsequently to liberalism within a rentier economy in the post-revolution era. However, despite shifts in nodal points and symbolic vocabulary, a structural continuity in the planning form is observed: the dominance of instrumental rationality, state centralism, and the systematic exclusion of public participation. The results suggest that urban policies have operated not on the basis of indigenous needs and spatial justice, but rather as instruments for consolidating political hegemony and ensuring symbolic conformity with global paradigms such as strategic planning and sustainable development.
Keywords
- Discourse Analysis
- Laclau and Mouffe's Discourse Theory
- National Development Plans
- Urban Development in Iran
Main Subjects
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