November 20, 2021
By: Kian Tajbakhsh, Professor of Urban Planning and Urban Studies at Columbia University; Senior Advisor to the Executive Vice President for Global Centers and Global Development; and Fellow, Committee on Global Thought.
Tajbakhsh published this post on his blog titled Tales of My Two Cities.
Tajbakhsh discusses the Iranian government’s call to incorporate a community-based participatory approach when planning future urban development projects. The government’s “New Approach” would require urban planners to consider the inputs of local residents and be well-served in social and participatory approaches, which are outside the scope of their work. However, Tajbakhsh points to the irony of the government’s highly romanticized vision. Like many illiberal regimes, Iran’s government-enforced participatory approach has more to do with state control than providing an authentic space for democracy. Tajbakhsh states, “…the irony (or even the tensions) of a top-down government program to encourage bottom-up political and social participation seemed to be lost. Without the basic political and social rights necessary for the emergence of a robust plural civil society (meaning freedom of expression and assembly) able to formulate interests and grievances independent of the state, simply compiling statements from residents in numerous public neighborhood forums and charrettes hardly amounts to democratic decision making.”