Where is the outskirts of the city? The answer is straightforward; wherever it can provide shelter. Maybe thirty years ago, the outskirts of major cities in Iran like Karaj were built outside the city, but now with the growth of the city, the outskirts are located within it. According to official statistics, a major city like Karaj has 76 informal settlements or non-formal residential areas that are built between the city and the affluent neighborhoods, such as “Khat-e Chahar Hasar”, which is only 5 kilometers away from the main square of Karaj and has around 6,000 households. The outskirts of the city today are under its ear and at its heart, and they are expanding day by day.

An exclusive tragic performance

An old woman leans on her cane and wears a mask. The background image is a combination of prosperity and destruction; a ruined house, a narrow and steep alley, and a door where the leaves of a tree provide shade. She asks, “What do you want?” The four lines of the Karaj fence are not a normal passageway for a passerby to walk through or pass by. That is why a stranger is identified at the entrance and the locals inquire about their presence with words or looks. This is not one of those pleasant aquariums that you can come to just to watch. And if you have come to show off the dark and ruined side of the city, no one will welcome you. No one wants you to hear their cries. No one here wants anything from strangers except for them to take their hands off their heads and move on. This is a tragic performance that only the actors are allowed to watch. The old woman says, “What do you want?” “

Slow progress on the margins. Sitting on the stairs, their laughter and jokes are on the way. They say, “There is no police station here, just a small police booth on the main street of Chalus.” Each one of them wants to outdo the other and be the winner of the conversation. They are teenagers and it seems that they are still not registered as a foreign threat. Their faces are not covered with a veil and they speak just as easily with Westerners. The boy with a smaller build says, “I’m not from this place. Our house is on the second fence; it has better houses there.” Before he finishes his sentence, his friend comes with a stick and says, “This place is also good. We have water, electricity, gas and telephone. What kind of house do you want? Whatever you want, you can find it.” And with a laugh that is not clear whether it is a joke or not, he continues, “We also have security.” What security? There is

Something remained in the past.

On the edge of the window, small flower pots have been placed from the street. The facade of the house has been decorated with mosaics. Most houses have small terraces with hanging branches and leaves. Each person has built a practical shelter according to their ability and creativity. Here, perhaps the image of poverty and miserable life is more apparent, but among all of this, each house has a sign of creativity and beauty that reflects the identity of its owner. Here, in the words of Adorno, there is no “blank slate” or cage for living that experts have built for tasteless people and can be thrown away like empty cans of canned food. The aesthetic sense of the owners of these informal settlements is evident in every brick and perhaps this is the same element of beauty that has been taken from modern buildings and structures in the city. The beauty of modern urban homes, no matter how luxurious, is reduced to decoration, technology, and consumption. Today’s home is devoid of meaning

Notes:

1- Bayat, Asef, “Street Politics (The Movement of the Empty-Handed in Iran)”, Nabavi, Assadollah, Shirazeh, 1379.
2- Sadeghi, Alireza, “The Daily Life of Urban Empty-Handed People”, Agah, 1397.
3- Sadeghi, Alireza, “The Daily Life of Urban Empty-Handed People”, Agah, 1397.
4- Adorno, Theodor, “Minor Morals”, Farazandeh, Hamid, Neghesh Khorsheed, 1384.