Citizens? Participation in Urban Planning and Development in Iran

During recent years, the topic of participation has increasingly been gaining importance in Iran – in the scientific field, in practice and rhetoric. However, in current scientific literature – and especially in English literature – there is little knowledge on the conditions, legal background, perceptions, experiences and processes of citizens’ participation in Iran.

This book aims to shed light on the paradoxical question of participation in Iran: it is old and new, dysfunctioning and functioning, disappointing and promising. This slippery status of participation convinces scholars to suggest contradictory interpretations and understandings about the existence, functionality, and potentiality of this concept. The book therefore shows the different perspectives, interpretations, historical developments and case studies of participation in Iran, thus giving the reader a kaleidoscope view on the question of participation in Iran.

Hans-Liudger Dienel is the director of the Nexus Institute, which has a core competency in participation research and practice, and professor at the University of Technology Berlin, Germany for Labour, Technology and Participation.

M. Reza Shirazi is a Marie Curie Fellow at the School of the Built Environment, Oxford Brookes University, UK, and works on neighbourhood development, social sustainability and urban theory and history with a focus on the MENA region.

Sabine Schröder is a research associate at the Nexus Institute, Berlin, Germany with focus on participation in urban development, sustainability, energy and climate change.

Jenny Schmithals studied environmental technologies and sociology at the University of Technology Berlin, Germany and specialized in social ecology, demography and participation in urban and regional development.