Experiences from urban development plans and assessments of their concrete and tangible results in the past decades indicate lack of adequate success of our urbanization system to responding needs of our citizens. This has resulted in need to find a fundamental solution to transforming the centralized system into decentralized. Recent changes in regard to a change of approach from master plan to strategic planning has resulted in an increased sensitivity with regard to enhancement of urban management in addition to the opinion that strategic planning is not in itself a credible replacement for technocratic master planning (top-down) and is not on its own sufficient for sustainable development. In this article, we employ methods of actualization and content analysis to compare the common features of two issues in Iran and subsequently, with an emphasis on correction of structure of urban management system, the concepts of participation of citizens, government, private sector and civic society and enhancement of “good urban governance” with “strategic planning approach” are discussed as keys to the question of solid development.“Public participation in decision-making, accountability, equity and efficiency”, defines both fundamental principles of good urban governance and characteristics of strategic planning and is essentials of a constant environmental, social and economic development.
