The Evolution of Urban Planning in Iran (A Case Study of Urmia)

As communities evolve and cities expand, urban planning methods are no longer responsive to the needs and problems of cities and the need to develop them is growing. This research is analytical and has been done using descriptive, comparative methods. Library studies, the Delphi method, observation tools, field studies, and questionnaires were used for data collection. The evaluations showed that the process of urban planning development in the city of Urmia follows the country planning and in terms of diversity and hierarchy of plans, the plans have been prepared at all levels of planning. Although most of the plans follow their upstream, this adherence has shortcomings in some cases. On the other hand, evaluations showed that although urban planning has evolved over the past several decades in the preparation of various programs due to inadequate focus on the needs, issues, and problems of the city, these programs have not been sufficiently effective.