خلاصة:
Decision-making for selecting the appropriate plan in cities has become one of the fundamental challenges of urban management. The poor efficiency of previous plans has led to a return to using the social participation of citizens as a method to escape deadlocks in solving urban issues. The aim of this article is to explain the necessity of citizen participation in the municipality by studying urban models in different parts of the world. Given the nature of this subject, a library-documentary study method and secondary analysis have been utilized in conducting this research. The findings of the research indicate that municipalities in developed countries have utilized the potential of participatory management in the best possible way to better fulfill their duties, and thereby transformed themselves from a purely service-oriented organization into a social institution; however, the municipality in our society is mostly presented as a service organization, and if the municipality wants to present itself as an active social institution, it needs two prerequisites: first, that the municipality as a social institution, while having mutual dependence with the five main institutions of society, must also have some degree of functional independence. The second prerequisite is the social participation of citizens in the municipality, and it is through this that this institution can be institutionalized among all citizens. Finally, suggestions are provided so that the country's municipalities can, by institutionalizing social participation among citizens, cause the idea of the municipality as a social institution to take shape.
ملخص الجهاز:
The reduction of dependence of municipalities on the government and the intensification of urban issues and problems (as a result of population growth and migrations, high volume of demand for urban services, and the reliance of municipalities on unstable incomes), has made working conditions difficult for those in charge of affairs in municipalities (Ghanbari, 2011: 42); however, since the potential for extensive cooperation and attracting the participation of the private and public sectors, seeking participation, and attracting the cooperation of non-governmental and non-governmental organizations can be useful for better fulfilling the duties of municipalities (the utilization of this capacity is among the performance characteristics of urban management in the advanced cities of the world) (Urban Planning Studies Center of the Ministry of Interior, 2000: 65); social participation of citizens in municipalities can be a fundamental way to solve urban dilemmas.
Despite the importance and necessity of the social participation factor of citizens in urban development, and while one of the primary needs of our country toward comprehensive development and the expansion of the idea of democracy is attention to the concept of social participation (Ghadiri, 2011: 5), this issue does not have much precedent in Iran, such that the role of people's participation in managing city affairs is very faint and weak.
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