درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Nowadays, planning is no longer considered merely a scientific and technical career nor a government responsibity. It rather functions as a bridge connecting the planners to institutional changes. In other words, the planning theory does not develop in a social, economic and political vacuum, but is formulated by individuals in social situations with the aim of clarifying the enviroment recommending appropriate procedures and processes. The purpose of this research was to identify the explanatory and normative capability of the Strategic Structural Plans theory in the context of institutionalism so as to enhance the capacity of its application in practice. For this purpose, the grounded theory was adopted as a research strategy within the framework of qualitative methodology. The data collection instruments involved desk study, interviews with experts, managers and specialists, collaborative observations on the environment. The research environment included macro and micro levels. At the macro level, the focus was on comprehensible conditions and components of Iranian spatial planning system, while the micro level served to exامینe on the local scale the urban planning and management through sample mining in Mashhad, Iran. As a result of this analysis, a total of 159 concepts, 44 categories and 9 major categories and 6 topics were recognized. Among the categories identified, institutionalism in the theory of Strategic Structural Plans was selected because of the frequent appearance in the data and its relation to other categories as axial category, where the paradigm model was outlined emphasizing on the causal and context condition, intervention, strategies and consequences.

Redevelopment of distressed and blighted areas are targeted by most of development policies. However, a number of policies have been changed as the result of the ineffectiveness of the previous experiences, the incompatibility of the development tools and plans, the lack of financial resources or social movements. Large-scale redevelopment projects have usually been considered as the powerful tools for urban revitalization, modernization and implementation of radical plans while many of those were criticized due to their various consequences including social exclusion, inequality, social conflicts, environmental damages, inconsistent scale, etc. Downtown of the City of Mashhad; Samen District, has experienced various physical interventions in the form of large-scale projects during the last century. Although the projects and intervention policies have been transformed during the past decades, previous faults were ignored and sometimes were iterated in these experiences. In fact, it seems that urban development solutions in the district have not been sustainable solutions and couldn’t maintain or shape a sustainable community in the historical and formerly economic urban core of Mashhad. This paper, focusing on mega redevelopment projects experienced in Samen Districst after 1920s, aims to highlight the critical aspects neglected or bent in Samen redevelopment program. Based on the nature of large-scale redevelopment projects and the current sustainability criteria, it qualitatively assesses the sustainability of the redevelopment projects through content-analysis method. According to the results, despite the competitiveness and place promotion goals of the Samen redevelopment project, the adopted approaches and policies could not lead to a state of sustainable development.