Formulating the Basic Strategies to Monitor the Physical Changes in the Urban Areas of Iran

The process of development in urban areas, after the horizontal expansion and land acquisition of national and natural resources and agricultural land in the suburbs, has led to the use of protected areas for urban services and an increase in construction density and has hit the citizens by increasing population, density, environmental pollution, and degradation of life quality. A plethora of several factors has led development to diverge from its original path; as a result, physical changes have not been realized based on what is envisaged in the approved plans. One of these factors is the lack of monitoring the process of development and physical changes based on urban and regional development plans. Accordingly, utilizing the principles of strategic planning, the present study tries to put forward some strategies to modify and improve the existing processes based on examining critical points and identifying the potentialities and constraints of of the monitoring system of the physical changes in the country. To this end, by means of the IEA technique and a survey of 40 experts, the current conditions for monitoring physical changes based on the SWOT framework have been identified and analyzed. The findings of the study showed that multiple management and the lack of an integrated monitoring mechanism, the lack of defining and clarifying the responsibilities, and separate performance of relevant institutions in physical change monitoring and the lack of legal support for the implementation of monitoring mechanisms have seriously damaged the development in urban and suburban area. This is indicative of the need to redefine the legal and institutional framework for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of development plans in the form of a coherent institution to manage and monitor the physical changes in urban areas in an integrated manner. Finally, while it is suggested that the deficiencies in the system of monitoring the physical changes be removed based on the priorities set out in this study, the legal and institutional framework necessary to establish an integrated system of management and monitoring is to be secured.