Urban Slums and Right to the City A Case Study of Khak-e Sefid Neighborhood in Tehran

This article discusses the formation and development of Khak-e Sefid Neighborhood in Tehran against the background of informal land and housing markets and within the framework of right to the city. Informal land markets are the common means through which low-income groups obtain shelter and access to some urban services across cities of the developing world. Slums formed by informal land transactions are manifestations of urban (or urbanization of) poverty and failure of urban policies. They feature low quality shelter and inadequate urban services as well as tenure ambiguity—at times due to squatting—which acts as an obstacle to investment, economic development, and physical improvements. Often exhibiting spatial disorganization and separation from the city proper, they are likely to be targeted for destruction or renovation. This article’s case study, Khak-e Sefid in Tehran, has experienced various types of informal developments over the past three decades. It was created by squatters on public and endowment lands to further develop through increasingly denser plot subdivisions, common use of services, and most recently vertical expansion on rooftops.