Comparative analysis of the nature and process of preparing a Structural-Strategic plan in Iran and Urban Development Plans of developed countries

In Iran, a comprehensive urban plan has been prepared and implemented for almost 5 decades. The most prominent plan that has completely dominated the country's urban planning system from the early 1960s to the late 1990s and until now (2019) relatively absolutely. Gradually, with the revelation of many weaknesses of this plan, which in combination with the structural weaknesses of the country's urban planning system became more obvious and prominent, the grounds for changes in the system of urban development plans emerged and based on a review of urban development plan services, and its concepts were revised. The inability of traditional management and thus traditional urban development plans to meet the needs of cities had revealed that urban management needed new patterns. Specifically, with the proposal of preparing structural-Strategic urban plans instead of comprehensive urban plans and preparing detailed basic, local and thematic plans instead of traditional detailed plans in the middle of the 1990s, a serious step was taken to change the old trend and prepare and implement so-called new plans. Specifically, after the evaluation of the Ministry of Urban Development of comprehensive urban plans in 1999, it was suggested that Structural-Strategic plans be prepared as a pattern for some metropolises, and based on this proposal, two research plans were defined to investigate the issue: one called process revision, and the content of urban plans and others called global experiences in structural and strategic planning.

The present article is a kind of basic-applied and developmental research and has considered descriptive and comparative-analytical methods to achieve its goals. Specifically, the research in the form of an analytical and descriptive approach, first begins with the study of urban development plans in Iran and the world, and with a detailed documentary study, the foundations of the idea are formed. Then, by analytical study of the plan (content analysis) and in a comparative study with urban development plans of developed countries, indicators and data as well as the main principles and objectives of the extracted plan are compared.

Structural-Strategic plans of Iran, as its title shows, have a two-part structure (structural and strategic), but according to the authors, they have three parts: strategic part, structural part and comprehensive part. Identifying some of the essential weaknesses of this hybrid plan, roughly indicates that the plan is not able to fully and optimally achieve its goals. In addition, the managerial dilemma has dominated the plan from the beginning. The Supreme Council of Urban Planning and Architecture has not reached a complete conclusion and has not fully accepted the Structural-Strategic plan or the name given among the experts, that is, the Comprehensive Strategic Structural plan. Some parts are not approved and some are not approved, and in this situation, consulting engineers and municipalities are naturally confused, and to avoid this situation, the general tendency of the urban planning system to devise and prepare the previous pattern, i.e. Comprehensive, is diverted. Examination of some internal samples clearly showed that this combination has led to a kind of substantial rupture and avoidance of feasibility. It can be said with negligence that only the structural part has been prepared in a way that has more excitability. The existing studies section has many similarities with this section in the comprehensive pattern and unfortunately has the same problems. The strategic part of the plan is not well developed and in accordance with the principles of Western strategic plans (the purpose is not to hide localization, but the issue of not paying attention to the basic principles), and it is enough to plan general slogans at all levels. The structural part also plays a significant role in marginalizing it with a complete break from the strategic part. Of course, the original planners of this hybrid plan do not claim that this hybrid plan. But it is not clear on what argument this should be accepted!

The Structural-Strategic plan emerged from the mid-1990s in response to the many weaknesses of the Comprehensive plan in the Iran's urban planning system. However, the studies of the present article reveal the construction of an incomplete combination of different plans with a clear and hidden focus on the Comprehensive plan and is not able to lead cities to the necessary utility. However, even in this situation, tips and suggestions can be made to correct things. Although it will not be the final solution. Suggestions such as simultaneous preparation of theoretical and operational parts of the structural-strategic plan to avoid inconsistencies and problems due to the time interval between the preparation of the two plans -the gap between the preparation of the structural-strategic and detailed (local) plan-. To achieve this goal, general and detailed studies of the plan can be done in parallel; A general overview of the so-called structural-strategic plan, by measures such as increasing the relationship between the strategic and structural sectors in the Structural-Strategic plan and if Inability to do so, removing the strategic part from the structural part or vice versa and focusing on only one part; Return of this Plan to the basic principles of the structural plan (the structural part of the plan in Iran is not faithful to the original pattern); More detailed presentation of thematic and local plans with further investigation, Establish laws to delegate more authority to local authorities to prepare and approve urban development plans, and beyond these proposals, propose a plan to replace the structural-strategic plan until the country is ready to prepare and implement the optimal strategic pattern, can well fill the gap between the current situation and the desired situation. Based on this, a proposed plan with the title of comprehensive strategic plan or comprehensive-strategic plan was compiled by Hamid Hodjati (one of the authors of this article), which is specifically based on his studies on various urban development plans in Iran, studies on global examples of strategic pattern and his opinions and views from this studies.