Analysis of Non-Feasibility Factors of Master Plans for Small Cities(Case Study: Sangar Khoshkebijar City-Shaft City in Guilan Province)

Problem statement:

The evaluation of the feasibility of urban development plans, which has been carried outin various studies, suggests their failure and reveals the urgency to review and find out the main causes of the impracticability of such plans in urban planning.

Research objective:

This research investigates the main factors affecting the feasibility of ‌‌master plans for small cities. For this purpose, three small citieswere selected as a case study in Guilan Province.

Research method:

This qualitative study employed the grounded theory method to obtain reliable information and opinions using semi-structured interviews.Thus, 23 expertsin the field of the urban management of small cities were interviewed to achieve theoretical saturation. Each interview lasted from one hour to one hour and thirty minutes. The research process included multiple iterations.

Seven main themeswere extracted for the non-feasibility of ‌‌master plans based on the code analysis of the interviews. These themes are weaknesses of the management system, problems of the legal system, problems of the executive system, financial problems, substantive problems of the plan, lack of constructive participation, and problems with the plan preparation process system. For each theme, appropriate solutions were proposedaccording to the initial open codes and their frequency. The findings of this study showthat different factors of the non-feasibility of ‌‌master plans are closely related to each other, in other words, they can be connected like a chain. Some factors can also be improved by modifying other factors.