The Monthly Scientific Journal of Bagh-e Nazar

Space-Based Gender Justice: From Conceptual Construction to Discourse Analysis of Tehran’s Fourth Urban Progress Plan

https://doi.org/10.22034/bagh.2026.571504.5977
Volume 23, Issue 161
November 2026
Pages 35-42
The Monthly Scientific Journal of Bagh-e Nazar

Document Type : Original Research Article

Authors

Parvin Alipoor 1
Afsaneh Ahmadi 2

1 Institute of Social Studies and Research, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran, Iran

2 Institute of Geography, Faculty of Geography, University of Tehran, Iran

Abstract
Problem statement: Despite the recognized importance of gender justice in urban studies, this concept has remained marginal within development policies. In Iran, research has largely focused on describing spatial inequalities, while paying less attention to the discursive mechanisms of the planning system. The central problem addressed in this study is the absence of a conceptual framework for analyzing gender justice in planning documents and the ambiguity surrounding the position of this concept within urban discourses -particularly where the nodal signifier of “urban justice” is foregrounded, yet the boundaries of its inclusiveness vis-à-vis citizens’ gendered experiences and the inequalities arising from them remain unclear.
Research objective: This study aims to formulate a conceptual framework for “space-based gender justice” and to analyze how it is represented within the urban justice discourse of Tehran’s Fourth Progress Plan (1401–1404 / 2022–2025).
Research method: The research was conducted in two stages. First, a framework for “space-based gender justice” was developed through an analytical–deductive approach grounded in feminist theories of space. Second, this framework was employed to examine the articulation of the discourse of Tehran’s Fourth Urban Progress Plan (as a meaning-producing policy text), drawing on Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse-theoretical approach.
Conclusion: The findings indicate that the plan’s dominant discourse is organized around the nodal signifier “urban justice.” However, this concept is articulated primarily within a physical–distributive framework, emphasizing infrastructure development, service provision, and managerial efficiency. Within this semantic structure, key components of space-based gender justice -such as women’s differentiated mobility patterns in relation to the gendered division of labor, safety, and everyday experience in public spaces, and social inclusion- are either absent or recoded through generic and de-gendered signifiers (e.g., “security” and “family”). Accordingly, gender justice is not advanced as an independent claim; rather, through discursive mechanisms of de-gendering and marginalization, it is excluded from the chain of equivalence associated with “urban justice.” This suggests that the dominant techno-economic development paradigm remains prevalent in Tehran’s urban planning, and that achieving inclusive urban justice requires redefining planning indicators and objectives through gender-aware and space-based approaches.

Keywords

Space-based gender justice, Urban planning, Tehran’s Fourth Urban Progress Plan, Discourse analysis, Feminist theories of space
Subjects
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