Being of Planner’s Values in Shadow of Discourses (Case Study: Planning Environment of Tehran Metropolis)

The instrumental and technical view wieldy assumed in planning theory and practice that planning can and must be limited to the value free consideration of alternative public policy means. Iran planning structure followed from this view and neglected from this fact that planning is a moral endeavor in which planners must make ethical and value-based choices. However, interconnectedness between values and planning process, in recent decades have been most influenced debates in planning theory and argued that value free planning is impossible in principle because planning is essentially affected by discourses. This article argued that question of values is an inescapable part of the planner behavior, and hence its purpose was to identify conceptual framework of planner’s values in Tehran metropolitan planning environment. The argument was presented through constructivist grounded theory method and two key issues: the relationship between values and discourses and values survival in specific planning environment. The data for analyzing of mental elements of planners by semi-structured interviews with 28 planners were provided with experience in the planning environment of Tehran metropolis and answering questions related to their lived experience in the given environment. “Blurring the academic values in professional work environment”, planner agency in practice of planning values” and “directing the individual and institutional values through dominant discourses” are the three categories which depict the picture of planner’s values in planning environment of Tehran metropolis. The article concluded by arguing that values in planning is about situated ethical judgment and conceptualization of values survival in shadow of discourses that raises significant issues in relation to ethical judgment notion in planning debates.