Extended Abstract
Introduction: Urban planning expected achievements in Iran, despite its long history, have not been satisfactory, and they have not been able to materialize the promised welfare. Even the most recent urban planning methods, often based on collaborative patterns, have not responded to the needs of citizens. Failure to implement these programs is affected by several factors. Lack of participation due to behavioral patterns of citizens is considered as an important obstacle. In other words, it is necessary that participatory urban planning be established and developed through the endogenous in Iran. Experience has shown that the use of western patterns in planning that are not designed for this society have failed to meet the needs of the Iranian citizens.
The goal of the present paper is to identify citizens’ participation obstacles with emphasis on behavioral patterns. The case study has been done in an old community or quarter in Qazvin named Bolaghi. Simultaneously an urban regeneration project, based on people participation, is being prepared for this community. However, it seems that such a participatory model of regeneration has failed to attract citizen’s participation. Sherry Arnstein in 1969 while discussing citizen involvement in planning processes in the United States, described a “ladder of citizen participation” that showed participation ranging from high to low. The ladder is a guide to evaluate who needs power when important decisions are being made. According to that ladder, people’s high level of participation will be realized when Citizen Participation turns into citizen power.
In addition to the model posed by Sherry Arnstein, some other theories have been used in this research; one of those theories is Homayoon Katouzian’s theory of Iran as a short-term society. Iran has been a society in which change – even important and fundamental change – tended to be a short-lived. This is one of the most important reasons for the lack of participation in the neighborhoods of Iran’s cities.
Also, the model used for studying in the neighborhood planning is called “asset based community development” (ABCD) approach; ABCD is a methodology for the sustainable development of communities based on their strengths and potentials. It involves assessing the resources, skills, and experience available in a community; organizing the community around issues that stimulate its members into action; and then based on residents participation determining what are needed and then taking appropriate action. In that the community’s own assets and resources are regarded as the basis upon which development will take place; it empowers the people by encouraging them to utilize what they already possess. Therefore, this approach is fully participatory, and without the presence of the people, there is no possibility of its emergence, and it can be used to assess the status of participation in the study area. This pattern of neighborhood planning in Iran has been adapted by Parviz Piran for the urban community of Iran, named: Iran’s participatory community regeneration project (Mahhaleyary project), and along with two other theories, it has formed the theoretical framework of the present paper.
Method: Methodology of this research is based on qualitative technique, and it has been carried out through interviews with Bolaghi quarter residents. The chosen neighborhood is a traditional neighborhood of Qazvin, which forms a part of the historic core of the city, where valuable monuments still exist and attract tourists. Of course, in the current situation, the Bolaghi neighborhood has changed, and a significant part of its identity has been lost. Instability, frequent construction, and population migration are among the issues that threaten whatever has been left. For this reason, public awareness targeting those issues can be a step towards encouraging people to participate.
The qualitative research interview seeks to describe the meanings of central themes in the real world life of the subjects. The main task in interviewing is to understand the meaning of what the interviewees say. Generally Interviews are particularly useful for getting the story behind a participant’s experiences, and the interviewer can get in-depth information as regards the topic.
Findings: Research conclusions leading to identify a list about 70 obstacles (14 categories) in participation reflecting social life habits of citizens. Besides comparing ABCD as an urban participatory planning process with identified obstacles, show about 40 percent of them will be solved if the proposed planning process is applied. At the end of research, some strategies and policies have been suggested to reduce people participation obstacles. In other words, according to identified barriers, there are some strategies that can reduce some of the existing barriers and encourage more participation and active presence of people in community development projects.
Solving these problems requires the formulation of long-term plans of a socio-cultural nature so that through a democratic process, it can promote civil society in Iranian cities.
Discussion: The behaviors of citizens are of reactive nature. That is, they are behaving according to the conditions of their society and their position towards the rulers, which does not harm their survival in the urban or local community.
Also, the results of the research show that the existing pattern of participation in the old neighborhoods of Iran cannot be recognized as an appropriate model in the participatory path because in those neighborhoods, the government’s proposed model has always been dominant. If one of the residents of the neighborhood did not act in accordance with what is ordered, he/she would be punished by deprivation of some rights.
So, review and alignment of the participatory planning process is essential by improving the understanding of the existing situation in the urban community of Iran and considering the behavior patterns of the citizens. Behaviors that are mostly reactive and embedded in a complex structure. Therefore, it is important to formulate appropriate planning patterns. As experience has shown, the use of participatory models solely based upon western experiences will not be fruitful taking Iranian context into consideration.
Ethical Considerations
Authors’ contributions
All authors contributed in producing of the research.
Funding
In this research, all expenses were paid by the authors and there were no sponsors.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments
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