Mona Erfanain Salim
Improving the quality of urban life is one of the most important targets that have been considered in solving urban problems and challenges by governments, urban management, and all stakeholders in the field of the city. In this regard, there is an urgent demand to identify the concept and dimensions of quality at all levels. Undoubtedly, paying attention to quality in urban areas which involves urban poverty, lack of cultural-social identity, and ultimately low social resilience, needs a different approach. In Iran, despite the efforts made in recent decades, the related policies and projects of improvement and innovation have somehow failed. Among the numerous factors that can be identified in this failure, we can mention the institutionalization of the quantitative view at all levels of planning and action. This current view has gradually reduced the depth and richness of the concept of quality in many cases. The obvious fact that can be seen in all stages is the neglect of the concept of humans, who in the position of citizenship, allocates the needs and demands for quality of life. The necessity of paying attention to human beings to improve the quality of urban life raises the requirement for an all-round and holistic look at the process of encountering urban contexts. It is considered in today’s specialized literature under the title of regeneration. In this issue of Haft Shahr magazine, the approach of urban regeneration is considered as a framework and basis for adjusting the structure and choosing the content. In the selection of the contents, efforts have been made to pay attention to various aspects of the concept of quality (the diversity of tissue types, the diversity of stakeholders, the diversity of related knowledge, and specialized components). This issue tries to be effective in minimizing the existing boundaries between theoretical literature and practical experiences in the field of urban regeneration.
2016, Chief-Editor note, Haftshahr, No. 53-54, Spring & Summer 2016