The Role of Waqf in Neighborhood Spatial Organization:



From Social Institution to Spatial Pattern

(The Case of Chaleh Meydan in the Qajar Period)



Abstract



Throughout the history of Islamic cities, waqf has not merely functioned as a financial or charitable institution; rather, it has operated as one of the enduring mechanisms shaping urban spatial organization. Nevertheless, within Iranian urban studies, research on waqf has largely remained confined to descriptive historical narratives, while its spatial mechanisms—particularly at the neighborhood scale—have received comparatively little systematic and analytical attention. Focusing on the Chaleh Meydan neighborhood in Qajar-era Tehran, the present study aims to elucidate the role of waqf in the formation of the neighborhood’s spatial structure and to extract a spatial–functional model of this process.



The research adopts a qualitative–historical approach combined with spatial analysis and is conducted at two complementary levels. On the one hand, documentary sources—including waqf deeds, historical maps, municipal records, and travel accounts—are examined. On the other hand, the neighborhood’s physical organization is analyzed through its movement network and the spatial distribution of endowed (waqf) elements. The theoretical framework integrates the theory of the production of space, spatial configuration and movement analysis, the concept of the built–social structure, and the pattern language approach (Lefebvre, 1991; Hillier & Hanson, 1984; Habraken, 1998; Alexander et al., 1977).



The findings indicate that in Chaleh Meydan, waqf played a fundamental role in producing and stabilizing the neighborhood’s spatial structure through three key mechanisms: the regulation of ownership relations and access, the organization of public and ritual functions, and the establishment of social gathering nodes. Accordingly, a network of endowed spaces—including mosques, schools, husayniyyas, tekkes, and water reservoirs—developed in organic relationship with the neighborhood’s circulation routes, giving rise to local centers, reinforcing collective urban life, and sustaining the spatial identity of Chaleh Meydan. The study demonstrates that this waqf-based model of neighborhood spatial organization can serve as an analytical framework for reinterpreting policies of historic urban regeneration and for mobilizing the capacities of traditional institutions within contemporary urban management.