Physical Capital

One of the essential problems of urban planning and management in Iran is the failure of implementation and execution of urban development plans. The studies show that lack or poor level of citizen participation is one of the influential reasons to that. So, it is evident that there is a need for “bottom-up” and “community based” sustainable solutions for urban problems. Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD), as an alternative to the commonly need-based approach, is based on identifying and mobilizing assets and capacities (although not being very much) in communities and emphasizes on participation in order to accelerate development. This paper would review the application of ABCD approach and evaluation its efficiency in a residential deteriorated neighborhood of Tehran (Emamzadeh Hassan Mohalla), with specific spatial characteristics and religious background, which is now housing the low class of blue collar workers and losing its population due to deterioration of social condition and physical quality. The results, based on survey, random sampling and statistical analysis, show that social and physical capitals (as the main community assets) have increasing effect on organized participation tendency (as the main goal of ABCD). Subsequent analysis showed that social capital is a direct factor to increase organized participation tendency and consequently neighborhood development, and physical capital, as an indirect factor, serves to increase social capital. Therefore by applying this approach for development, people-based strategies (to enhance participation) and place-based strategies (to enhance social capital), should simultaneously be considered.