Status of Spatial Justice in System of Iran,s Urban Planning

Justice is a controversial concept. Therefore, different definitions have been presented from it to now. In the former definition, social justice concept has been reduced to compensation and distribution concept while in contemporary definition has been remembered from social justice as a critical discourse that it`s aim is to eliminate and reduce discrimination, poverty, social segregation and domination. For understanding this concept from spatial justice in the city, we need to know the power players, power relations, structures and processes of planning. With these in mind, we need to redefine some of the basic concepts of city such as urban space, participation principle (power distribution), equality principle (no discrimination), difference and liberty principle. The dominant thought paradigm of urban planning system of Iran is rational-comprehensive kind. This paradigm to the whol city has a physical, authoritarian, technocratic, centralized, and elitist and top-bottom view. In this thought paradigm is meaningless some principles such as liberty, equality, difference, and also political and social participation of citizens. In this case, the justice concept reduced to distributive and compensation equity and it away from question of structural and process in city. Therefore to achieve to urban planning of justice oriented we must away from physical and technocratic policy and we move to comprehensive and cooperative policies. Also we must empower the local management and pay more attention to political dimension of the city until city residents protest to discrimination of urban development plan (injustices and obvious inequalities) and those claim their rights from the city.