ABSTRACT
The argument made for facilitator offices is applicable to the status of citizen participation in urban planning in Iran. The question of participation in Iran is a paradoxical one; it is old and new, dysfunctioning and functioning, disappointing and promising. The modern meaning of citizen participation was incorporated into the processes and institutional functions, side by side to the traditional ways of practicing civil engagement on the local and neighbourhood levels. However, in reality, the call for people participation remained mainly a 'rhetoric vision'; on the ground, decision-making in urban planning and urban management has been largely top-down and non-participatory. City Councils, among others, were one of the main areas of implementing citizen participation which was included into the new Constitution. In pre-revolutionary period, modern citizen participation methods were incorporated into the urban management structure, like the city councils. Integrating citizen participation into urban regeneration processes is a good example with both promising and disappointing sides.
