Measurement and Evaluation of Regional Coalitions Driving the Spatial Growth and Expansion of the Tehran Metropolitan Region

Currently, urban and regional planners in developing countries are facing many challenges in controlling urban sprawl. Metropolises and metropolitan regions are complex, diverse environments where wealth and capital accumulate on a national scale, and this feature increases the possibility of forming corruption networks with the aim of achieving more profit and benefit in these regions. In such a situation, it is essential to understand the formation process of these networks and measure and evaluate the structures that drive informal processes. This research seeks to measure and evaluate the regional coalitions that stimulate the growth and spatial expansion of the Tehran metropolitan region. The research method is descriptive-analytical, and a Likert-scale questionnaire was used to collect information, which was completed by 252 participants. The results show that compared to the other two sectors of the coalition regime, the private sector has played a more significant role in the land occupation network of the Tehran metropolitan region, and to be more precise, it has created informal processes that create urban sprawl. The lowest share across all three areas of power, influence and interest is related to the public with a weighted average score of 2.09, 1.92 and 2.58 respectively. Measuring and evaluating the effects of organizational-institutional structures shows the unique role of commission institutions in the process of land occupations in the region. Finally, the identification of the stakeholder indicates a combination of all three categories of organizational-institutional structures among the main and secondary stakeholders. Although some institutional-organizational actors have a greater role in the growth and expansion of the growing spatial-physical region by gaining more points in the form of primary and secondary stakeholders, it is evident that the current explosive growth is not limited to the performance of any single organization or institution related to the urban land. Instead the connections between these institutions are synergistic with the mechanism of influence of other elements of the coalition regime (private sector and the public) in the form of a network that facilitates such conditions. Under these circumstances, it is not possible for the government or the market alone to manage the challenge of encroachment on sacred and surrounding lands and informal processes related to land and housing in the region. Instead, it requires institutionalization. More precisely, the formation of a suitable institutional environment that can support public interests rather than short-term interests of those with power, interest, and influence. In addition, this institutional environment should be based on strengthening individual and organizational-institutional understanding and awareness of the region and be accompanied by social demands. In such a way that all stakeholders and actors in the field of urban land voluntarily advocate for the preservation and protection of the region’s lands. Overall, it seems that the will of the private sector, social structures, and even contrary to the expectation, the organizational-institutional structures of the region, are in service of violations and informal processes with a self-interested view.