Armanshahr Architecture & Urban Development

Armanshahr Architecture & Urban Development

The Nature of Place Under Rentier Capitalist Economy: Mediation of Built Form in the Sacred Precinct of Imam Reza Shrine (With Focus on Human-Centered Paradigm)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Javad Ramezannejad 1
mehdi hamzenejad 2
asghar mohamad moradi 3
1 PhD student in the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Architecture Department, IUST
2 Faculty member, Architecture Department, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, IUST
3 Faculty member, Conservation Department, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, IUST
10.22034/aaud.2026.545120.2994
Abstract
Rentier capitalist economy in religious cities such as Mashhad, through the exploitation of pilgrimage flows and monopolistic resources without creating productive value, transforms urban structures and the nature of place, turning the identity of lived places into a profitable commodity. The theoretical framework of this research rests on three fundamental human-centered pillars: the concept of dwelling, power-space, and the theory of spatial production, mediated by built form. Examining multiple dimensions reveals that the role of built form in rent-seeking of religious places has been neglected. The problem-oriented focus of this research is understanding the mechanisms through which rentier capitalist economy affects the nature of place. The main question is: How does rentier capitalist economy, through the mediation of built form, transform the human nature of places? The research methodology is based on an interpretive-critical paradigm with a human-centered orientation, seeking to integrate discourse analysis and critical discourse analysis through a qualitative approach and bricolage technique. Data were collected from document review and in-depth interviews with 12 participants, then integrated and analyzed through three-stage grounded theory coding and bricolage technique. The coding findings from 12 interviews yielded 1578 codes, which were organized into 12 subcategories. Actor-network mapping identified 9 active actors, the core category of "systematic destruction of collective identity through rentier networking and social control" was discovered, and the central phenomenon of "commodification of the nature of place" was produced, in which driving forces overcome local resistances with a balance coefficient of 0.51. This ratio indicates that destructive forces operate twice as powerfully as reconstructive forces. The theoretical contribution of this research demonstrates that rentier capitalist economy, through the mediation of built form, drives the nature of place toward commodification, destruction, and identity change, but triple resistance forces (political, narrative, interpretive) retain the potential for reconstruction.
Keywords
place commodification
rentier capitalism
place essence
artificial form
human-centered paradigm
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Armanshahr Architecture & Urban Development
Volume 19, Issue 54
Spring 2026
Pages 25-40

  • Receive Date 04 September 2025
  • Revise Date 27 May 2026
  • Accept Date 27 May 2026