Concluding Remarks
Shopping malls in the contemporary Tehran generate images of wealthy life that advertise luxurious lifestyle. Prioritizing the ‘wants’ over the ‘needs’ means to create dream worlds where grandiose malls create a sense of ‘being’ rather than ‘having’ as a form of luxury. At this point these malls capture imaginations of people by bringing them close to the reality of luxurious commodities without creating the necessity of the ownership.
Considering the contemporary dynamism of the society, co-existence of Grand Bazaar and grandiose shopping malls in contemporary Tehran indicates transformations in the society’s demands. Apart from the economic significance of bazaar for the mercantile sector, Grand Bazaar has become another site for entertainment in Tehran. For the consumer society of Tehran, Bazaar, as a spatial organization, is more a historical site for visit; the image of nostalgia. In other words, for the citizens of the North of Tehran, visits to the Grand Bazaar are turning into a type of luxury activities rather than necessities for the daily consumption; an excessive activity to create feelings of being special. In such conditions, Bazaar is not producing culture but is approached from a new cultural perspective that thrives within shopping malls. Consumer culture in the North of Tehran, being fed from the sprawl of shopping malls, is shifting relationships between social actions and social locations in the city.
With the present situation and the growing urge towards luxury, Tehran is seeking a new identity as a contemporary city filled with images; and a growing fracture between social classes. Such fracture will create even more urge for reaching the dream world of luxury. The utopian picture for the citizens of Tehran will be an image created by the dream of wealth. Thus this city of spectacle is heading towards becoming an urban setting for display of festivity, leisure and expenditure. Citizens of Tehran are becoming tourists in their own city; and that is the contradictory nature of producing spaces as mediators of consumer culture in North Tehran and its impact on the City as a whole.