Typology of urban theories in expressing the concept of urbanization.

Urbanization has been vastly studied in the theoretical literature related to the fields of urban studies. Different approaches to urban theories—from critical urban theory to the Los Angeles school, from the postcolonial to the planetary approach—offer various definitions of the concept of urbanization based on distinct ontologies, epistemologies, and methodologies. The various readings of the concept of urbanization among the approaches related to the urban theories would benefit from an extensive analysis through a holistic stance, which is the aim of this study. First, we attempt to put forward a typology of the concept of urbanization by reviewing the various approaches related to prominent urban theories and categorizing them. In so doing, we find that the approaches are essentially focused on three main categories or types: static, dynamic and alternative. Next, the paper presents the case study of Iran and tries to trace the categories to understand the ways in which urbanization is expressed and perceived in the country. To this aim, and to determine the main themes, we use thematic analysis to study official documents—texts and legislations—and also to conduct in-depth interviews with expert individuals. Findings of the case study indicate that in the context of Iran the urbanization concept has been commonly described as static. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]