Social Engineering and the Role of Community Participation to Increase Feasibility in Renewal of Dilapidated Urban Areas (The Case of Nematabad, 19th District of Tehran)

Aiming at achievement of community participation and maximum feasibility for urban plans, social
engineering approach is to be discussed, in this paper, as a method of planning in close interaction with
people. Citizen participation in urban renewal can not be judged simply as an effort to “plan with people”
and thus realize a democratic goal, but only with reference to the differing capacities of various social
classes to engage in the collective determination of objectives, and the implications of such participation
for the ends of the renewal program. Further, citizen participation has got many consequences for the
growing number of big-city mayors who seek power without having strong party organizations.
Communities are supposed to participate fully in the planning and implementation of urban renewal
projects. Participation is a process through which stakeholders influence and share control over
development initiatives, as well as the decisions and resources which affect them. Participation may be a
means or an end, but in reality it is usually both. Community participation should be aimed at empowering
people by ensuring that skills are developed and that employment opportunities are created. Involving
people in order to increase awareness, empower, build capacity, or expand rights and duties may be an end
in itself, but it may also function as an instrumental means for accomplishing a specific task. Similarly,
working with people to accomplish a specific task may enable them to expand their confidence and ability
to address other issues in their lives. Community participation should be aimed at empowering people by
ensuring that skills are developed and that employment opportunities are created. The emphasis, in social
engineering, is on continuous attendance and participation of people, from the outset of basic studies to the
final phase of project. Having: 1) theoretical principles; 2) dynamic and interactive structure; and 3)
methods of implementation, social engineering is a theory capable of being generalized to different areas.
Among outcomes of social engineering are:
 Rapid implementation process,
 Assurance of target group’s approval,
 Omission of parallel and redundant phases,
 Reliability on planning and decrease of opponents, and
 Constant interaction between community and municipal administration.
The present paper is a survey on the use of social engineering to cope with the problem of dilapidated
urban areas and describes different phases of planning with people from the beginning to the proposal of
alternative plans in the case of Nematabad. Research methodology of this study includes in-site and library
studies, and documentary reports of the whole process, describing different phases of the project from the
first acquaintance with given area to the final presentation of plans to people, emphasizing on the role of
social engineering. The paper ends up with a comparative discussion on proposed plan as a result of a
combination of social engineering with community - participatory methods.