D.r Hamideh Esfandyarimehni, D.r Mohammad Soleimani, D.r Tajoldin Karami, D.r Mosa Kamanroodi,
Volume 0, Issue 0 (3-1921)
This study investigates the impact of ideological cycles and changes in political discourses on the formation and spatial transformation of the Lalehzar–Ferdowsi neighborhood in Tehran during the pre-Constitutional and Constitutional periods. The main objective is to identify the contexts and processes through which traditional and modern discourses shaped the spatial and physical structure of this neighborhood. The research is qualitative and exploratory in nature and adopts a historical–analytical approach. Data were collected through documentary sources, including historical documents, maps, official reports, and written records, and were analyzed using a spatial discourse analysis framework. The findings suggest that the emergence and development of the Lalehzar–Ferdowsi neighborhood during the Qajar period were a result of the interaction between two dominant discourses: the traditional discourse of the pre-Constitutional era and the modern discourse of modernization during the Constitutional period. The spatial manifestations of these political discourses materialized through the establishment of various institutions and structures such as the Fārūs Printing House as a symbol of freedom of expression, the formation of the Nazmiyeh and the police as indicators of the rule of law, embassies and state institutions as expressions of state–nation relations, and facilities such as the telegraph office, bank, post, park, and modern streets as signs of modernization. Accordingly, the simultaneous and sometimes conflicting forces of tradition and modernity generated the initial physical form, functional structure, and modern urban identity of the Lalehzar–Ferdowsi neighborhood.
