Citizens?Participation in Urban Planning and Development in Iran ― The Case of Iran

In recent years, the topic of participation has been of increasingly importance internationally, both in practice and in academic thinking. However, most of the research into participatory planning has looked at Western countries. Focusing on Iran, this book depicts the development of conditions for citizen participation in Islamic planning and development. The book is divided into four main sections: the first part sets out an overview of legal regulations as regards to participation, to the level of participation, and to the challenges and opportunities for participation in Iran and discusses how these compare to and differ from those in other countries. It next examines local case studies where participatory methods or instruments were employed. The third section focuses on the perspectives of different stakeholders including administrators, planners, municipalities and citizens. The book concludes by looking at experiences of specific participatory methods and links findings in Iran more broadly with those in the region and in Europe.

Hans-Liudger Dienel is the director of the nexus institute, which has a core competency in participation research and practice, and professor at the University of Technology Berlin for Labour, Technology and Participation.

M. Reza Shirazi is a Marie Curie Fellow at the School of the Built Environment, Oxford Brookes University, and works on neighborhood development, social sustainability and urban theory and history with a focus on the MENA region.

Sabine Schroder is a research associate at the nexus Institute with focus on participation in urban development, sustainability, energy and climate change.

Jenny Schmithals studied environmental technologies and sociology at the University of Technology Berlin and specialized in social ecology, demography and participation in urban and regional development.