This article examines the critical issue of “villa construction in the absence of theory”—a rapidly expanding phenomenon in Iran that still lacks conceptual definition, analytical frameworks, and locally grounded evaluation criteria. Unlike its Western meaning, the villa in Iran has emerged as a response to the inability of large cities to meet residents’ qualitative needs for tranquility, leisure, contact with nature, and privacy. Consequently, the “second home in nature” has increasingly become a widespread social demand. Yet this surge in demand, occurring without policy guidance or capacity assessment, has produced major structural challenges, including the proliferation of pseudo-villas, “ruralization” of non-rural communities, pressure on water and land resources, informal construction, and growing spatial inequalities.

The core problem identified in this study is that villa development is progressing without being recognized as a socio-spatial phenomenon requiring its own conceptualization. As long as the villa remains an undefined and untheorized category—treated mainly through media narratives or land-use disputes—no consistent or effective decision-making is possible. In the Iranian context, the villa represents a temporary, leisure-oriented, non-residential form of dwelling tied to surplus income and distinct from urban courtyarded houses or hometown second homes. In the absence of theory, indicators, and spatial typologies, villas continue to expand in energy-intensive, low-durability, and environmentally damaging forms. The article calls for the conceptual definition of the “Iranian villa,” the development of socio-environmental criteria, and the establishment of responsible regulatory models as prerequisites for managing this national issue.