Land Development Management in Deteriorated Urban Fabric with Focus on Smart Growth Approach (Case Study: Yaft Abad, Tehran)

Land development constitutes the physical pattern of development, which is subject to many influ­ences by economic, social, management and political issues. Land use planning as a base for urban planning has always been looking forward to optimize the future land development. Contemporary plans - i.e. the traditional form of planning - introduced zoning of land uses and urban facilities that were a failure through implementation; reasoned by weaknesses such as disregarding the spatial as­pects of land development and two-dimensional plans for future land use without establishment of implementation supplies. Looking forward to reduce these weaknesses, the new paradigms for land use planning take some efforts to consider different aspects of land development patterns and empha­size on methods and models for implementing the strategies, policies and local plans, legalizing the land development for optimum public advantages through urban life. In this research, the challenge is opened by a review of the history of land use theories, plans and methods and instruments of im­plementation. The theory of Stewart Chapin for land use planning process is described, where land development management plan is the last step of the process, regarded as the conjunction of land de­velopment plans and the process of implementation. Keeping focus on this issue, the analytical model of this research stands on the framework of development management plans composing the “Model of Land Management”. Furthermore, “Smart Growth”, a new paradigm of growth management and control of development, is introduced and analyzed to adapt the inefficient patterns of development in Tehran, setting the direction of the model’s main goals and strategies. Finally, the model is examined through “Yaft Abad District”. The results demonstrate that some factors such as discarding the role of the main stakeholders and lack of integrated policies and regulations as well as common social, economic and physical weaknesses, aggravate the causes of inefficient land development. Mean­while, analyzing the causes and effects of land management with inefficiency criteria of development, through an adopted model of land management, could set the direction and main strategies of smart development. Designing the implementation process in Yaft Abad District, four main criteria of land management defined a “Development Code” for: building regulations, economic programs, urban design, design standards and public, private and stakeholders’ partnership.