Investigation of Procedures Related to Compilation, Review, and Enactment of Approvals in Islamic City Councils; Case Study: “Nightlife” Approval in Tehran City

Nezhadbahrama, Zahra; Mirzadeh, Seyyed Hossein

doi:10.22034/aaud.2023.363491.2720

Investigation of Procedures Related to Compilation, Review, and Enactment of Approvals in Islamic City Councils; Case Study: “Nightlife” Approval in Tehran City

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Zahra Nezhadbahrama ¹

Seyyed Hossein Mirzadeh ²

¹ Ph.D. Political Sciences, International College of Islamic Sciences, London, England.

² Ph.D. Candidate, Faculty of Architecture & Urban Planning, University of Art, Tehran, Iran (Corresponding Author).

10.22034/aaud.2023.363491.2720

Abstract

The performance of city councils in reviewing and enacting approvals is one of the important fields in urban management. The significance of this field originates from the nature of these approvals that affect the various life aspects of citizens. Also, an investigation of this topic is necessary regarding the paradigm of public participation of stakeholders and influential groups in the decision-making process, because city council members perform as elected agents of people and make decisions on various urban subjects and challenges in the urban planning system of Iran. Thus, this study aims to examine a real experience of decision-making in the Islamic City Council of Tehran by adopting a pragmatic approach to discuss the compilation, review, and enactment of an idea in the city council through a practical process. To do so, content analyses, documentary, and narrative studies have been used to review the theoretical texts in this field, analyze the available documents and antecedents, and the practical procedures and margins done to compile, review, and enact the considered approval. The results of this study confirm that the pragmatist approach must receive greater attention in the process of revising the plans, projects, and approvals in the field of city and urban planning. Adoption of this approach and attention to the real experiences of the action field (in the field of decision making) draws the attention of theorists to the point that stakeholders (even those who are irrelated to the topic) have hidden powers in the cities, and can disturb an urban project or improve its performance. Moreover, regardless of all of its aspects influencing the cities, processes respective to urban management have raised many worries for power authorities, so the interaction with them requires specific capabilities for urban planners. These capabilities appear through the assessment of experiences in the field of action or practice and existing realities of society.

Keywords

Theory and Practice Fields

Approval

City Council

Nightlife

Tehran

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