Urban Public Policy and the Formation of Dilapidated Abandoned Buildings in Historic Cities: Causes, Impacts and Recommendations

Hamed Tavakoli,Massoomeh Hedayati Marzbali

doi:10.3390/su13116178

Hamed Tavakoli, Massoomeh Hedayati Marzbali

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116178

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Abstract

The contradictory and inefficient nature of urban public policy in Iranian historic cities has been subject to long debates in recent years, and has even led to disorganisation in the formation of dilapidated abandoned buildings (DABs). Under the current policies, three government agencies oversee the urban management in historic cities. The projects and processes that have yet to be implemented by these agencies are crucial for solving the problems associated with DABs. This research aims to investigate the current public policies of the essential key players and stakeholders in order to ameliorate the problem of DABs, which in the literature has been proven to be associated with socio-spatial disadvantage. A qualitative semi-structured enquiry was conducted, and urban public policies were evaluated on the basis of 19 in-depth interviews regarding the three historic cities of Yazd, Kashan and Isfahan. The results were analysed using cutting and sorting techniques, and thematic and critical narrative analysis. Several inadequacies in the current urban public policy were specified. This research could help decision-makers to create efficient management plans with respect to the reduction of DABs, an approach that can be considered efficient for the regeneration of life in historic cities.

Highlights

Received: 9 April 2021Accepted: 24 May 2021Published: 31 May 2021Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.After hundreds of years of morphological consistency and organic growth, present-dayIranian cities have become subject to an unprecedented phenomenon that initially occurred at the beginning of the 20th century
The scope of the research in the current study was restricted to the collection and analysis of several datasets pertaining to the three historic Iranian cities of Kashan, Yazd and Isfahan
The semi-structured interviews were conducted amongst a variety of stakeholders and generated open discussions with representatives from the three government agencies, as well as practitioners, scholars and planners regarding the urban public policies in Yazd, Kashan and Isfahan

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Iranian cities have become subject to an unprecedented phenomenon that initially occurred at the beginning of the 20th century. The new social and economic changes eventually generated poverty, unemployment and inequality in the access to public services and infrastructure amongst the residents of historic urban areas, culminating in a swift urban sprawl both outside and on the fringe of historic cities [1,2]. The urban transformations imposed by modernity demolished the old city walls and dramatically changed the physical spatial configurations of old cities [3]. According to researchers of contemporary Iranian urbanism, the exogenous socio-spatial movements since the 1920s have reshaped the historic cities [2]

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