The role of public interest in megamall formation: A constructivist grounded theory of the neighboring residents’ experiences

Megamalls are among the large-scale projects that have various economic, social, and cultural effects and consequences on the cities. Therefore, given the increasing growth of their construction in recent years, megamalls are considered among the most challenging urban issues. Therefore, the present study seeks to explore, explain and theorize about the consequences of the formation of multi-purpose commercial complexes in residential neighborhoods and for their inhabitants. Also, it seeks to study the effects of this phenomenon on the public interest of citizens. For this purpose, Charmaz's constructivist grounded theory has been used. The data were collected from 15 semi-structured interviews with residents of Ekbatan neighborhood, as a case study. In addition, field observations and existing documents and discourse materials have been used as study data. The result of the article is a theory about the citizens' perception and understanding of the process of constructing megamalls in their neighborhood, which in 6 stages presents how residents face the construction of megamalls. These stages also provide the resulting changes in the neighborhood, which are: 1. Appreciation; 2. Loss of trust; 3. Dissatisfaction; 4. Being silent; 5. Nostalgia; 6. Conditional acceptance. In each stage, the effects of actions and interventions of urban planning and public institutions on the interests of citizens and citizens' perception of how to use the stage are explored. Based on this, the perception of satisfying and securing the public interest in urban planning requires focusing on discourse as a tool to reach agreement and consensus.