Zoorabad, a neighbourhood on the shoulders of the urban poor

Abstract

This article explores the ‘quiet encroachment' movement that has been taking place in Iran for decades. Led by low-income people, this movement aims to reclaim the right to housing as a basic requirement for living. With a lack of social housing services and other relevant facilities, the urban poor in Iran have taken it upon themselves to informally occupy or purchase public lands, in order to improve their socio-economic situation by avoiding the cost of renting or buying housing in the formal market. One of the neighbourhoods that has undergone this transformation is ZoorAbad, situated on a hill near Tehran. The hill was designated as national public land in 1969, but due to industrial growth, poor people who migrated from villages to Tehran and its proximities were unable to afford formal housing prices so moved to ZoorAbad to build their own homes. In the 1990s, in line with the government’s speculative approach towards land, the Iranian government developed an ‘Improving Plan of ZoorAbad’, aimed at demolishing this informal settlement. It led to the demolition of more than 4000 housing units and the forced displacement of settlers. The two main groups of residents in ZoorAbad—landowners and tenants—have had different capacities to reject the municipality’s offer of purchase or to negotiate with the government. This piece illustrates how the government’s market-oriented approach to address the housing issue in informal neighbourhoods such as ZoorAbad can lead to financial loss and reduced opportunities for local residents. It sheds light on the contemporary grassroot strategies used by the urban poor to address their housing needs in ZoorAbad and the dynamics, strategies and shifting dynamics among various groups.