An Assessment of the Logical Value of Comprehensive Urban Development Plans of Tehran

Integration of assessment with planning process is one of the distinctive features of modern urban planning. In response to the need for comprehensive and integrated thinking, to evaluate and analyze complex and changing urban issues, assessment has become a basic issue in urban planning process aiming to explain the value of urban programs in terms of influencing urban development, formulate the program and implement social interventions, and improve management. Despite significant advances in theoretical approaches and evaluation methods, scientific evaluation of the status of comprehensive urban development plans has not yet been carried out in our country. It is also difficult to deal with the environmental requirements based on the recognition of the problem and to find appropriate problem solving techniques. The purpose of this research is to provide a conceptual model and to assess of comprehensive urban development plans developed for Tehran, and to explore the bases that make the evaluation of comprehensive urban planning fragile. Therefore, the available sources and theoretical literature were reviewed and the evaluation approach, criteria and sub-criteria were identified to define the evaluation framework of the stated programs. The criteria and sub-criteria were determined by analytical-comparative methodology, with library studies and expert opinions. Then it was localized and adapted to meet the ground conditions of Iran through deep interviews with experts. Finally, the significance and application of each criteria and sub-criteria was evaluated using the questionnaire by the main custodians of comprehensive urban development programs in Tehran. The results of the evaluation in this research are based on the fact that the comprehensive urban development plans prepared for Tehran have a low logical value. In addition, the answer to the complexity problem is the main problem and the most important evaluation problem.