Urban poverty in Iran has now reached a stage where it can no longer be explained merely through income indicators. What is now visible in Tehran, Mashhad, Ahvaz, Karaj, and other major cities is a combination of a housing crisis, the collapse of job security, forced migration, marginalization, and the erosion of social identity. Tens of thousands of people are now forced to choose between remaining in the city and preserving a minimum level of human dignity.
For years, the economic structure of the Iranian regime has turned cities into commodities for speculation. In this structure, housing is viewed not as a social right but as a tool for capital accumulation by groups close to power. The result has been exploding rental prices, the gradual elimination of the middle class, and the displacement of millions to the outskirts of cities. Today, even salaried employees and professionals can no longer afford to maintain independent lives.
Food Inflation and the Erosion of the Middle Class in Iran’s Economy
The Collapse of Urban Life Under the Pressure of War and Economic Crisis
The current crisis is not merely the result of inflation or mismanagement. Recent wars and political tensions have also multiplied the speed of urban poverty’s expansion. Many businesses have shut down, economic projects have stalled, and thousands have lost their jobs. Official unemployment insurance statistics show only a small part of the reality. Millions of people who worked in the informal, online, or project-based economy have effectively been abandoned without any support.
Under such conditions, returning to one’s parents’ home is no longer a cultural choice; it is a sign of economic failure and the collapse of personal independence. A middle-aged woman forced to move back to her mother’s house with her child is not merely changing her place of residence; she is losing part of her social identity. Reverse migration from Tehran to smaller cities is also no longer a sign of attachment to one’s hometown, but rather the direct result of being unable to survive in the capital.
Saeed Izadi, a faculty member at Bu-Ali Sina University in Iran, emphasizes that urban poverty is not merely income poverty. According to him, today’s crisis includes housing poverty, insecurity, environmental poverty, cultural poverty, and the collapse of living standards. This definition explains why even areas that appear physically developed are still engulfed in crisis. A city may have tall towers and massive highways, but when its residents lack psychological security, stable employment, and the ability to live with dignity, that city is effectively poor.
The dimensions of this crisis are staggering. According to studies conducted in Tehran, nearly half of the capital’s population is affected by forms of multidimensional poverty. This means the crisis is no longer limited to traditional slum dwellers. Teachers, journalists, office workers, artists, and even sections of the professional workforce are now being pushed into lower social classes.
Marginalization; The Real Face of the Failure of Iran’s Planning System
One of the clearest manifestations of urban poverty is the expansion of informal settlements and impoverished neighborhoods. The marginalized population, estimated at around 11 million people years ago, has now risen to approximately 14 million. Climate crises, water shortages, the destruction of agriculture, and the heavy concentration of resources in a few major cities have also forced millions to migrate.
In fact, over decades, the Iranian regime has destroyed balanced regional development, pushing people toward major cities and then abandoning those same populations on the urban margins. The result has been the emergence of areas lacking proper infrastructure, healthcare services, quality education, and social security.
The crisis of urban poverty has even reached the historical hearts of cities. Many old neighborhoods in Tehran, Isfahan, and Shiraz have been abandoned because of high costs, deterioration, and neglect. In these districts, urban life is gradually fading away, replaced by alienation, insecurity, and poverty.
The regime’s planning structure has for years focused solely on quantity. For the rulers, the number of housing units has mattered more than quality of life. Massive construction projects have been built without regard for urban identity, transportation, the environment, or human needs. The result is cities that may have physically expanded but have become hollow from within.
This crisis has become a threat to social cohesion, mental health, personal identity, and the future of society. War, sanctions, structural corruption, and the chronic inefficiency of the Iranian regime have turned cities into spaces of permanent anxiety. Beneath this heavy dust, not only buildings but also human hope is gradually disappearing.
