Understanding and Explaining the Interaction of the Social-Communicative Aspects of Urban Planning and the Key Criteria of Sustainable Development

Since the 70s and especially the 90s, social and communicative dimensions have been emphasized in both procedural planning approaches and sustainable development studies. Despite the emphasis on the importance of linking the social-communicative dimensions of planning and the components of sustainable development, there is no attention to the way of linking these issues in the planning literature. As a result, it seems, the gap between the substantive and procedural aspects of planning can be resolved by the interaction between the procedural aspects of new planning approaches on the one hand and the substantive goals of sustainable development on the other hand.The main question in this study is: what relationship can be established between the social-communicative dimensions in the new planning approaches and sustainable development criteria? In order to answer this question, first, the basics of new planning approaches have been collected, and then, using the qualitative content analysis method, the social and communicative dimensions of these approaches have been understood. In the next step, the content analysis of the key components of sustainable development theories and guidelines was done, and finally, the explanation of the conceptual relationship and interaction of the results of the first and second steps was deduced using the qualitative meta-synthesis method. The findings show that the new planning approaches, with the essence of communication, participation, and Pragmatism as a procedure, have a good capacity to implement the criteria of sustainable development as the substantive goal of urban planning.