Spatial othering in fragmented societies: different others or different housings?

ABSTRACT

The sudden emergence of different housing types in a homogenous neighbourhood can cause social distance, negative perceptions, and housing stigmatization. In the Navvab area in Tehran, the social rift and refusal to accept different ones have been represented in the duality of the complex/neighbourhood. Such spatial othering can, in turn, manifest in obvious physical distance, which acts as a certain border area. Through a qualitative case study, based on grounded theory methodology, in the first phase of the Navvab residential complex and its adjacent neighbourhood on the west side of the Navvab highway in Tehran, Iran, this article shows the process of housing stigmatization: how the built environment associates with othering and negative social perceptions; how this othering manifests in urban public spaces; and how people take positions towards the established territorial stigma. Based on the characteristic features and attitudes, individuals were categorized into four categories: dualists, self-righteous, difference deniers, and antipathetics. We finish by suggesting that design and the built environment form can play a mediating role in activating challenging discourses in fragmented societies dealing with stigmatization.

KEYWORDS:

• Spatial othering
• territorial stigmatization
• housing stigma
• interaction
• Navvab residential complex

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Shahrestani: In popular culture, this word is opposite of ‘Tehrani’ and entitles all Iranian people who do not come from the capital city Tehran. It has a negative connotation when used in certain occasions to undermine people.