A Detailed Study of Research Role and Utilization in the Urban Management Case study: Tehran Urban Management System

Statement of the problem: One of the major challenges in the field of urban research is the lack of trust between policymakers and researchers. As a result of this challenge, while preventing researchers from the key decision-making and policy-making processes, inadequate resources are being allocated to the research sector. The main policymakers and manager’s argument is that the work of the researchers is far from the realities of the implementation and practice. By creating a vicious cycle, this issue has led to the weakened and underdeveloped infrastructure and research capacities in faculties, and the theoretical and practical weaknesses of the applied research in various areas of urban management studies. The current study aims to analyze and study strategies for promoting the use of research in decisions made by Tehran urban management system.
This study aims at investigating and analyzing the current process of defining, implementing and leadership of urban research projects in the urban management system of the country. The main approach for this purpose is evidence-based policy-making which provide some solutions for improvement.
The research method in this study is "case study" and its type is "single instrumental case study". Having analyzed a wide range of research studies on the field of research utilization, this paper develops an analytical framework based on the "supply and demand" model. Then, using this analytical framework, the mechanism for defining, implementing, leading and extracting the results of research projects at the Tehran Urban Planning & Research Center is analyzed and eventually, it has become evident that the current mechanism needs specific strengthening interventions for demand sectors.
This paper provides two main results. Firstly, an analytical framework for investigating and analyzing research organizations mechanism in the public sector. Secondly, a proposal to establish a structure entitled "Office for the Empowerment of Urban Management Research" in the current mechanism for managing applied research in Tehran Urban Management System. The specific mission of this structure is developing "policy capacity" and "institutional capacity".