Appropriateness of traditional neighborhood concept for planning contemporary neighborhood units

Abstract

The concept of neighborhood as a basic planning unit has been widely accepted in twentieth century urbanism. It has emerged in the west, and been adopted in new town planning as a unit of complex components focused on socio-cultural needs rather than the physical configuration. Neighborhood concept was also adopted in manipulating urban settlements in developing countries carried out by local and western planners with its basic assumptions, morphology and formal expressions unchanged, regardless of social differences, local behavioral patterns, cultural variations, and physical setting. This paper is an endeavor to study the neighborhood concept in the light of the specific characteristics of the developing countries communities. It attempts to highlight some social aspects that had been neglected in neighborhood planning and emphasizes potential neighborhood planning.