نشریه اقتصاد و برنامه ریزی شهری
سال چهارم شماره 15 (پاییز 1391)

Public participation refers to the citizens’ voluntary cooperation in planning for the societies and results in the multi-dimensional development of the cities. The individuals who are the residents of the region under investigation are the best advisors for the purpose of a more comprehensive planning. Such people are affected by decisions more than the others are; thus, they will be more responsible. As a result, the urban managers can utilize the expertise of such people at different levels of decision making process in order to accelerate achieving the economic sustainable development. Therefore, in addition to reducing the expenses for financing the urban projects, the motivation for investing by the private sector increases and, through developing the culture for participation in the society and gaining the trust of the citizens, the perspective on the future plans for investment will be clearly outlined. Nowadays, developing countries intend to encourage the foreign investors to invest in different projects via establishing secure economic situations and making a stable market. Foreign investment can improve the efficiency of the market and bring about entrepreneurship and economic dynamicity. In the current article, which is descriptive-analytic, method-wise and practical and applied, purpose-wise, via utilizing the literature on the related research, attempts are made to, firstly, define the public participation and its effects on sustainabledevelopment and, then, to investigate into the issue of attracting the domestic and foreign investors and the effect of public participation on increasing the attracting of capital, and, finally, to probe the role of the municipality of Tehran in the development of investment and public participation.

The development and the promotion of the quality level of urban life constantly require expenses and large-scale investment and in order for the urban management to provide them, some issues need to be resolved. Such expenses, in different countries, are usually financed through two methods, sustainable and unsustainable. One of the sustainable methods of financing the expense is utilizing the participation of the private sector, especially in the foreign direct investment. The article has investigated into the foreign investment as one of the participatory methods of the economic development of the city and financing the expenses of the municipality. The research method is descriptive-analytic and the instrument for collecting the data is the study of the deeds. Moreover, in this article, the scope and the importance of foreign investment in the economic development and growth have been probed and, eventually, practical strategies for the improvement of the foreign investment status will be introduced. According to the investigations made in this article, foreign investment, as one of the main aspects of sustainable obtaining of the revenue for the municipality, is put forward. With regard to the practical strategies for the development of foreign investment, the effective factors for attracting it are the betterment of the atmosphere of business in the city, organizing international seminars on foreign investment, FDI database in the cities, constant supervision of the approved foreign investment plans, and the efforts for resolving the existing problems.

Nowadays, the modern discourse and world view in urban studies represent the new requirements and tendencies in such areas as economics, politics, and culture in the cities. The contemporary global cities, despite the economic-social divisions and gaps, manifest a different view, both culture- and cultural-economy-wise. The experimental studies show that the effect of globalization and extra-national cooperation on the variations of the urban economics is greatly important and with the shift of focus from instrument-based economy and industry to knowledge- based economy and industry, urban development is also strengthened. The main purpose of this article is to practically study and utilize the views which are effective in the formation of the functionality of the world cities. The current study investigates into and analyzes the effects and the consequences of some activities and cultural industries on the strengthening and flourishing of urban economy, especially of the cities intending to join the group of the global cities. The results put emphasis on the ever-increasing importance of the capital and the cultural capabilities in the process of economic planning of the cities and also the role of such planning in restoration of urban spaces.

Participation in urban management means the mutual relation between the public and the city management in a way that it can have effects on the city-related issues. Nowadays, the limitations and deficiencies of the municipality financialresources, on one hand, and the wide scope of the activities and the services the urban management provides, on the other hand, have resulted in the public participation in managing the cities in different fields. The main purpose of this study is identifying the diversification and sustainability of the revenue in urban economy emphasizing citizens’ participation. The article, utilizing scientific sources and the library research, intends to offer scientific analyses of the necessity of establishing various and sustainable revenue via citizens’ participation. The results show that the economic basis is the main resource for the diversification and sustainability of the revenue for urban management and the increase in the public awareness of the expenses of the urban management can encourage participation inproviding the finance for the municipality. Putting up the tax on jobs and the public parking places, determining the price for municipality services, and putting up the tax on renovations, with regard to the effective factors on each of the mentioned, help the municipality obtain more revenue.

Deficiency in the methods utilized for obtaining revenue and unsustainability of the municipalities’ revenue resources double the necessity of applying different strategic and sustainable instruments for the management of the revenue resources of the municipalities. Establishing sustainable revenue resources requires the analysis and investigation of the revenue-obtaining structure and the current revenue resources, of their threats and problems, of the investment methods, and the application of financial opportunities through directing investments. Further, taking distance from traditional revenue resources, which are transitory and unsustainable, is necessary for the actualization of such an issue. Thus, attending to the municipalities’ investment funds as a strategic instrument for exploiting the capital of the private sector in the process of the economic development of the cities is of importance. Different types of such funds are used for a variety of purposes according to the features of each of the municipalities and the investors and also with regard to the existing advantages, efficiency, and risk and the characteristics required to gain the trust of the investors.