Analyzing Judicial Support for Public Participation in Urban Regeneration Case Study of Imam Ali Square (Ateegh) in Isfahan

For the past fifty years, the Iranian cities have witnessed many efforts toward dealing with dilapidated neighborhoods, including urban renewal, urban rehabilitation, reconstruction and regeneration. However, the experiences in this regard have not led to any major achievements. In the cities in the developed countries, public participation is considered as an important element in the plans for such efforts. Here in Iran, public participation seems to be mostly ignored or has been dealt with in a distorted ways. One reason which contributes to lack of interest in public participation regeneration efforts is the weakness in legal framework which includes laws and regulations which can officially recognize the rights of participants, i.e. that of both the people and the urban management. Accepting the fact that public participation is crucial for a successful urban regeneration effort, it should be a requirement in urban regeneration with judicial support and a legal framework on different economic, social, managerial and physical aspects. In this paper, content analysis was conducted on some of the rules and regulations used in urban regeneration best practices. Literature review helped to look at both the theoretical basis and the experiments in other countries to come up with a theoretical framework for the research. In this paper, the extent of public participation is examined in a urban regeneration program in Iran, the case of Ateegh square of Isfahan. This square, which originally had an area of five hectare, dates back to the Saljuk dynasty, seven hundred years ago. Several major historical buildings and structures surround the square. Among these buildings one can see the main Isfahan Mosque, the Bazzar, Khaje Nezamolmolk’s tomb, the Saljuk citadel, a number of governmental palaces, the Soltan Sanjar school, and Harounieh complex. The square and the elements which surround it are in harmony with administrative, governmental, cultural, religious, and soci-economic functions. A regeneration plan has been adopted by the High Council on Urban Planning and Architecture with the aim of elevating the historic and cultural identity of the square while satisfying the needs of the residents of Isfahan and those living in the nearby neighborhoods. The results show that urban rules and regulations leading to promoting public participation in urban regeneration efforts in Iran have many flaws in social and managerial fields. There are other distortions in rules and regulations within economic and physical aspects of urban regeneration which are discussed here. Out of nine cases of laws and regulations which has been emphasized in other developed countries, six of them could be found in the Iranian laws and regulations. On the other hand, regulations dealing with joint regeneration body and private sector partnership, regeration grants, and financing aids are not available for regeneration efforts in the cities of Iran. In order to utilize public participation in urban regeneration, supportive rules and regulations should be provided along with predicting a mechanism for their complete and sound implementation. For this end, rules and regulations such as compensating for the participants’ loss, devoting development grant, implementing joint projects and monitoring business and commercial premises improvement are suggested.