A framework for time studies in urban planning: Assessment of comprehensive planning in the case of Tehran

Abstract

The contemporary comprehensive urban planning in Iran suffers from lack of mechanisms for accountability and monitoring, as well as weak implementation. In response, in the Comprehensive Plan of Tehran, developed in 2007, evaluation and monitoring gained new significance, however, a gap remaining about temporal aspects. This article proposes some criteria of so-called time-oriented policies for evaluating planning practices, through a specific analytical framework. Despite development of theory on time-oriented approach in Europe, such an evaluative framework for plans had not been developed yet. The proposed ‘urban temporal studies framework’ consists of two main groups of attributes: surveying ‘time orders’ such as urban rhythms under descriptive part and considering major normative principles of ‘ordering time’ such as temporal equity, efficiency and institutionalisation. Using a content-analysis methodology, we have applied the proposed framework evaluating the recent Comprehensive Plan of Tehran. The results of the analysis indicate that the planning system in Tehran has mostly considered normative temporal aspects and they are mainly implicit in the plan. The frequent considerations of temporal organisation in our case clarify the strength of ‘planning in time’, occurred implicitly in this plan. On the other hand, the absence of descriptive elements in the plan notices a lack in awareness or a weak interest of planners and decision makers in Tehran about social structure of time of the city.