A Critique of Urban Design Framework Services Description

Urban Design Framework is a documentary qualitative study employing a process-oriented approach whose application requires a similar procedural planning process at the city level to comply with that. The absence of such a fundamental basis and the lack of systematic knowledge of the content and outcomes of this approach may lead to an inappropriate result that undermines its application. There are basic challenges in understanding the concept of the Urban Design Framework and the application of this approach as a whole. There is also a contradiction in the procedure of activities. Apart from that, its contents and outcomes are subject to ambiguity. However, the fundamental problem of this service description is its integration within the wider framework of the statutory planning document. Reviewed Urban Design Framework service description includes two levels of studies, whose incorporation into one toolkit is not only unnecessary but also inappropriate.  The reason lies in the feasibility of procedures. A three-dimensional Master plan is a supplementary tool introduced in this toolkit, which has basic ambiguity in its title, content, and applications. The most important challenge posed by this Master plan is associated with a procedural aspect and refers to the timing of its application, which is supposed to happen at the same time as the Framework itself is being developed, without the participation of stakeholders, beneficiaries, and the interested groups. In addition, service description in this level (Master Plan) has posed challenges in terms of the content and the nature of outcomes.