Participatory Approach in Renovation and Rehabilitation of Deteriorated Urban Fabrics

Today Deteriorated Urban Fabrics are one of the major problems which most cities have cope with them. These fabrics are those parts of the cities which have gotten rid of the life cycle of the city and have become a center of problems for them. However, Deteriorated Urban Fabrics have different potentials and opportunities. If these potentials are demystified or activated, they will be used as a driving force in city development process. Many approaches have been offered during these years to surmount this problem, but these approaches mostly have failed, as they have paid attention only to physical aspects and designer´s tendencies. Furthermore, they have not attended to resident´s needs or other aspects of this problem. As to renovation and rehabilitation of the cities is for improving quality of life, it is necessary to concern both physical and non-physical (social, economical, cultural) aspects. Residents are the major influenced of urban projects. Consequently, attending to their needs in urban projects is essential. Besides, this approach will help the projects performance too. Today Benefits of Participatory Approaches and using people participation in Renovation and Rehabilitation of Deteriorated Urban Fabrics is undeniable. Governments, decision makers and plan performers have accepted that people participation in urban matters especially in historic and deteriorated fabrics has the main role in plans performance. This approach is not only helpful in project realization, but also effective in persuading people to help performers during project process. In this case, people will become sensitive on their settlement. Hence, they will find themselves more responsible regarding their environment, so keep it well. This article with concentration on participation in Renovation and Rehabilitation of Deteriorated Urban Fabrics tries to perform abovementioned and identifies the selected participatory process in urban design. which includes three parts. The first part named as “Theoretical Basis” presents the participation description, short history and its levels. The second part named as “Participation in Practice” determines advantages of participation and explains different participatory processes. This part also presents “Sustainable Collaborative Approach” as a selected process in urban design. Finally, in the third part “Leh”, a city in Tibet, has been chosen as the case study and the Sustainable Collaborative Approach has been shown in its participatory process. This article depicts “Leh” as a successful case in performing a participatory process of deteriorated fabric and describes Sustainable Collaborative Approach in renovating this deteriorated fabric of the city. According to this research, the main goal of Sustainable Collaborative Approach is environmental sustainability and has been designed as a cycle. Sustainable Collaborative Approach is a process which can help urban designers and urban planners to perform their plans in practice. Moreover, Professionals and people are participating in all project´s levels.