Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

• Hojjatollah Kolivand ¹
• Morteza Talachian ²
• Hamid Majedi ³

¹ Ph.D. Candidate in Urban Planning, Department of Urban Planning, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

² Assistant Professor, Department of Urban Planning, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

³ rofessor, Department of Urban Planning, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Extended Abstract
Background and Objectives: Urban development plans, the most important and comprehensive document of the development of cities, have passed different periods in terms of content, methodology and implementation. This is due to the importance of plans in urban development and to the failure to implement them. The experiences of preparing urban development plans show that these plans, despite their positive and constructive aspects, have not always solved urban problems, and may have been an important factor in the formation of problems in some cases. This subject has been the basis of many studies in the form of articles, books and reports by experts or consulting companies, Organization, the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development and the Ministry of Interior. Despite new theoretical concepts, including strategic-structural plans, the ineffectiveness of these plans is still evident. Therefore, any kind of research in order to identify and diagnose urban development plans, considering the complexity of urban issues is necessary. The aim of the article is to analyze urban development plans through the structure of studies and the methodology and content of these plans. 
Methods: The dominant methodological approach of articles related to the pathology of urban development plans has been the meta-analysis method. Meta-analysis involves a systematic study of previous research findings pertaining to a particular subject, providing the opportunity to derive conclusions that may not be readily evident from the original data within those prior studies. First, related articles have been collected in the period from 1992 to 2020; then, by selecting the number of 85 articles related to the pathology of urban development plans, using the basics and extracting the investigated indicators in the form of a checklist of related data, including study trends, geographical distribution, research approaches and types, research environment, strategies, the methods of data collection and the general approach of the content have been extracted and analyzed quantitatively.
Findings: The trend of studies in the investigated period of time shows the fluctuation of studies by researchers regarding the pathology of urban development plans did not increase in different periods. More than 50% of the studies were conducted without case samples. The geographical distribution of studies shows the lack of proper and uniform distribution in the country. In a large number of provinces, despite the increase in the number of cities, no study has been done. The most researchers are related to the field of urban planning with 41% and the second place is geographical sciences with 38% of all researchers. This shows the lack of attention of other sciences related to the city and urban development plans. Based on the research findings, from a methodological perspective, there is a relatively good balance in prescriptive research, with various approaches (comparative and inductive) being utilized in the applied studies. The majority of studies have a qualitative nature and focus on macro-level urban development schemes. More than three-fourths of the research was conducted in bibliographic method and nearly 65% of the articles were descriptive and phenomenological in terms of research methods. It is clear that pathology studies of urban development plans notably lack the incorporation of alternative research methods, such as parametric and non-parametric approaches. According to the results of this article, more than 75% of studies have been based on documentary methods, which is on the one hand due to the documentation of comprehensive urban plans and the necessity of document review, and on the other hand, it shows the weakness and lack of attention to other methods of data collection in case studies.
Conclusion: The findings indicate that the increase in the quantity of pathology studies does not correspond proportionally to the increase in the number of cities and graduates of this field in the country, and on the other hand, the geographical distribution shows that more than two-thirds of the country’s provinces have no specific study or only they are satisfied with one research. In the specialized fields, 80% of studies are done by graduates of urban planning and geographical sciences, and researchers of economic and social sciences have paid the least attention to the field of urban planning. Therefore, it seems necessary that the authorities take measures for the purposeful collaboration of other researchers related to the city. Also, the lack of appropriate and relevant methodology and high dependence on phenomenology and document study, despite the survey and field nature of the research field and the lack of combined methods, can be seen in these articles. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the objective and operational aspects of urban development plans; move more towards mixed (quantitative-qualitative) research. Overall, the findings indicate that studies related to urban development plans have a fundamental weakness in terms of methodology. The methodological content analysis of the studied articles indicates two distinct types of urban development plan pathology studies. The first group, with 6% of the articles, has investigated the level of realization and the reasons for the non-realization of the goals in the samples, and nearly 94% based on the experiences of the authors have raised the causes of the inefficiency of urban development plans, which is due to the influence of studies on the phenomenological method and the priority of knowing the cause is more than the knowing the effect, and it indicates the lack of investigations with an inductive approach in urban development plans. In conclusion, it is suggested that the Supreme Council of Urban Planning and Architecture of Iran, considering its mission in this regard using the capacity of numerous and related scientific centers throughout the provinces of the country, according to the periods of monitoring and revision of plans, provide the field for targeted studies by researchers. This can balance between the time periods of studies, the optimal distribution of studies according to issues and problems and the dispersion of cities and the use of different researchers in this field.

Graphical Abstract

Highlights

- Contrary to perceptions, studies related to the pathology of urban development projects in the country are few and have a heterogeneous geographical distribution.
- Pathological studies of urban development plans are generally phenomenological and based on the experiences of experts, and there are few survey studies in this regard.
- The science of urban planning in terms of methodology, while using other sciences, requires the production of independent and unique content and methods.

Keywords

• Urban Development Plan Articles
• Meta-Analysis
• Pathology

این مقاله برگرفته از رساله دکتری نویسنده نخست با عنوان «تبیین رویکرد آمایشی در تهیه طرح‌های توسعه شهری» می‌باشد که به راهنمایی نویسنده دوم و مشاوره نویسنده سوم در دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی واحد علوم و تحقیقات تهران انجام گرفته است.

This article is derived from the first author`s doctoral thesis entitled “Explain the planning approach in preparing urban development plans”, supervised by the second author and advised by the third, at Islamic Azad University Science and Research Branch.