Collaborative Participation Approach of Urban Design, from Idea to Design (Heravi Square, Tehran)

Problem Statement: 

Designing cities without the participation of the people will provide a passive, inhuman and boring city whose citizens will be indifferent to the future of the city. Therefore, given the complexity of contemporary cities and the inefficiency of traditional methods, providing appropriate methods and tools for better communication, co-operation and collaboration between experts and residents of a metropolitan area seems necessary.

The concept of citizenship participation is directly related to the concept of democracy, and its importance becomes evident when the active citizen is manifested in the city and the development of the city is achieved through cooperation and participation of people. In this case, the citizen is considered to be anactor who actively tries to determine his / her fate and attains a desirable status, and the future of the city is considered important to him / her. This can be the ultimate goal of a participant-oriented city, and it is important to note that this concept should be applied to the urban design process and programs.

The present research has a theoretical-practical structure. To answer the research concern, the “analytical-adaptive” method has been used to analyze the opinions of the people and experts and to adapt to the principles and process of urban design. Also, it has used direct methods, indirect methods, group engagement and mental storms to take advantage of public participation.

The results of the research indicate that in general the opinions of experts and people who use an urban place can be different, coordinated and sometimes contradictory. Therefore, the important thing is the right to express oneself by all users and actors of a place. An urban design expert as a catalyst can accelerate and facilitate this process. This research presents a model in the form of a study of the Heravi Square, a process for designing urban space with the participation of people and experts and in terms of collaborative participatory design methods. This process consists of three main stages: (1) public information, (2) design workshops, (3) feedback. Keywords: Collaborative Urban Design, Collaborative Partnerships, Public information, Feedback, Heravi Square.