Document Type : Research Paper
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Abstract
Two decades after the Urban Collection Bill being passed in Iran, there are still some profound doubts both in theory and in administrative-organizational dimension. Many studies have been conducted in this field and even a great deal of experience in urban planning has as yet to make authorities achieve an optimum and accepted model for managing and planning urban collections. The major reason is lack of attention to spatial and organizational realities and the structure of decision-making in Iran, lack of close scrutiny of administrative mechanisms and ignoring the necessity of planning approaches adapted to the administrative and planning structure of the country. The research in this adaptive investigation aims to make recommendations for some approaches to improve the management and planning of urban collections. This was carried out in three stages by referring to documents, books and articles related to this subject and studying the planning and management experiences in the two cities of Sydney and Toronto. As such, the facts and differences in Iran’s structure of decision-making and administration were considered. Selecting suitable and adaptable case studies is the key to success in comparative research. Thus, samples were selected based on the two criteria of (1) the macro-structure of planning in countries being studied (level of regionalism) and (2) the success of the selected metropolitan regions in planning and managing the growth. The research results lead to two types of general (pertaining to the macro level of planning) and regional (pertaining to urban collections) problems. Two groups of approaches are then suggested: (1) structural-management: to improve the administrative structure and the system of macro-decision-making; and (2) planning-management: to qualitatively improve the content of plans and programs of urban collections. The major approaches are to create an organization regionally responsible for urban collections to appropriate the duty of decision-making to regional bodies rather than regional branches of ministries, and to create a think tank that includes representatives of the institute managing regions to make major decisions. In the area of administration and programming problems, the suggested approaches include planning for land use, transportation and housing, emphasizing the principle of competitiveness and simultaneous synergy in the region (stress being on a strong relation between peripheral cities), and taking a cyclic approach rather than hierarchical planning for outlines.
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