Proposing a framework for measuring the right to the city in urban development plans

Document Type : Original Research

Authors
م. ص. شکوهی 1
F. CHERAGHZADEHCHALESHTORI 2
A. Mohtajallah Yazdi 3
1 Assistant Professor in Planning, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran.
2 MSc in Regional Planning, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
3 MSc in Regional Planning, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
In recent decades, the term "right to the city" has been noticed first in philosophy and then in urban planning. Perhaps the right to the city can be defined as the right of citizens to benefit a rich cultural urban space. Based on this, urban development plans can play a significant role in realizing or not realizing this right. The question is how to find out to what extent an urban development plan is based on the right to the city? In order to answer this question, a scale should be proposed to measure the right to the city in urban development plans. Due to the relative nature of the achievement of the right to the city in urban development programs, the present research, while proposing a scale, by selecting two study samples (Tehran Comprehensive Plan and Paris Sustainable Development Plan), uses the comparative method in evaluating the right to the city.

The research approach is a documentary and comparative approach. In the first step, while examining the theoretical foundations and existing literature (based on the opinions of Lefebvre, Soja and Harvey), a framework for measuring the right to the city in urban development programs is proposed, and then a comparative study has been done based on the data obtained from the study of the documents of the Tehran Comprehensive Plan and the Paris Sustainable Development Plan (Le Projet d'Aménagement et de Développement Durable- PADD) as well as the results of in-depth interviews with the planners and urban managers of Tehran and Paris.

The research approach is a documentary and comparative approach. In the first step, a framework for measuring the right to the city in urban development programs is proposed via examining the existing literature (based on the opinions of Lefebvre, Soja and Harvey). Then a comparative study has been done based on the data obtained from the study of the documents of the Tehran Comprehensive Plan and the Paris Sustainable Development Plan (Le Projet d'Aménagement et de Développement Durable- PADD) as well as the results of in-depth interviews with the planners and urban managers of Tehran and Paris.

The results indicate that urban development plans can be articulated based on to the right to the city along a continuum ranging from "the eradication of religious and racial discrimination" to "the right to urban existence". Furthermore, the comparative analysis of the urban development plans of Tehran and Paris, utilizing this proposed continuum range, reveals that the notion of the right to the city is significantly diminished within the Tehran comprehensive plan. Although the Tehran comprehensive plan document acknowledges certain facets of citizens' rights pertaining to urban existence, it predominantly adopts a physicalistic perspective, thereby neglecting the citizens' entitlement to experience an environment imbued with identity and cultural richness. Conversely, the sustainable development agenda of Paris contemplates a more elevated conception of the right to the city, such that it incorporates the right to the city at the level of "equitable access to economic and social opportunities" as a fundamental component of its strategic framework.

Keywords

Subjects

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The Journal of Spatial Planning and Geomatics
Volume 28, Issue 3
December 2024
Pages 84-118