Presenting Community-Led Urban Management Pattern for Mashhad

A new deal in the field of concepts and viewpoints about urban management was made by new challenges
and problems due to extension of urbanization and globalization. That deal intends to make a mutual
linkage between urban management and political and socio-economic structures and therefore changes the
role of urban management from delivering different services to attract public participation. In these
conditions, urban planning and management make a great attention to lower levels and tangible
dimensions of city life and use each community as a tool for managing cities, making sustainable
development and social solidarity and creating identity and character. Also a pervasive approach can be
recognized which intends to use the human resources and financial ones by assigning the major role to the
community; this attitude is called the community-led approach. Recognizing the major characteristics of
this approach, adjusting it with Iran and conditions of Mashhad city in Iran, and representing a pattern for
implementation of the community-led approach in this city as well as feasibility study of this pattern are
the purposes of this research. In this research the recourses about community-led approach are studied, and
the basis and principles are recognized; then the research studies the characteristics and the role of them
for realizing this approach. After that, on the basis of study results and interviews whit Mashhad urban
management experts, it represents a pattern that consist, of many factors, parameters and indicators of
community-led approach and tests this pattern by selecting two communities in the city, according to the
physical-social typology of Mashhad communities. Finally, by analyzing the results, the article, represents
a pattern and some strategies and methods for implementation of community-led approach in the structure
of Mashhad urban planning. Study of basis and principles of community-led approach shows that it can be
explained by four viewpoints; consist of community theory, participatory approach, asset-based approach
and social capital theory. The survey shows that two major factors, including community and urban
management, have critical roles in implementation of the mentioned approach and urban management,
because of starting this process, has a similar role. Hence, amplification of information systems of urban
management, training the participatory methods, making community meetings with urban authorities,
establishing a community council and a community management organization, and trying to reach the
community planning are among the most important steps to implement the community-led approach in
Mashhad. In conclusion, feasibility study of community-led approach in Mashhad shows the lack of many
indicators and the tough implementation of this approach in this city. Since the most of significant criteria
in this pattern are in the field of urban management tasks, it can be expected that recognition,
understanding and real intention to implement the community-led approach by urban management, make
the realization of this approach possible and convenient.