Developing a common vision in the Yousef-Abad neighbourhood in Tehran – a comparison of traditional meeting-based and web-based techniques of public participation

This chapter reviews citizen participation in urban planning, the role and status of public participation in planning, the advantages and limitations of public participation, and different types of traditional and innovative techniques of participation. It introduces the experiences in applying these techniques in the Yousef-Abad neighbourhood in Tehran and the lessons learned from this experience. The chapter addresses the meeting-based techniques as one of the traditional participation techniques and Internet-based techniques as one of the innovative participatory techniques. The public meetings are considered the most frequently used techniques and are considered one of the traditional techniques of participation. Contrary to traditional methods of public participation that are restricted to geographical locations, web-based public participation enables the public to participate at any location. There are numerous historical reasons and origins for the emergence and development of the idea of citizen participation in planning.