چكيده به لاتين
78 percents of Iranian cities, that have a population of less than thirty thousand based on the 2016 census, make up for a mere 13 percents of urban population of the country. The “being low” characteristic of these towns is not only reflected in their population, physical aspects, good life infrastructure or functional diversity, but also in the attention they are paid by the national and international researchers and decision makers. Towns that due to the experience of population loss and the migration of non-native residents play a less significant role in the residential and activity hierarchy of the country. In recent years, in dealing with the present challenges and deficiencies and to conserve the marginalized settlement types (villages, small and medium-sized cities), solutions such as the delegation of responsibilities and authority to the local level have been put forward. But why, despite the emphasis on the delegation to local management, there has been no significant effort in understanding the existing condition of urban management in the local level in towns? Are decision makers in this level prepared for such a responsibility? What are the urban management processes in such towns in the existing legal and administrative structures? What is the lived experience of the residents of these towns? Furthermore, considering the differences of social and functional relations in towns in comparison with big cities, can the cognitive and analytical frameworks of big cities be applied to towns as well? Therefore, having accepted decision making as the central element of urban management, the main goal of this research is to access the lived reality in the experience of decision making in city council in urban management of towns of Iran; explaining a mechanism which has not been studied closely or qualitatively yet (based on accessible experiences). The town of Natanz with the population of approximately 14000 (2016 census) was selected for this research. This Iranian town has a long history of urban management (officially since 1928) and has experienced macro changes in recent years. The town has long benefited from the existence of powerful local actors and is known on a personal level by the researcher. The study of decision making mechanism of urban management based on the city council ordinances and the council’s relationship with other urban management institutions in Natanz was carried out with a qualitative and critical Paradigm and using a participatory action research method with case study and narrative research. Based on preliminary studies, the first and second terms of the city council of Natanz (Between 1999 to 2006) were selected as the narration study period. The time gap between the decisions of the mentioned era and now would make it possible to analyze the realization and consequences of the decisions. Furthermore, the selected era is believed to be one of the most important and effective years of the city council and it coincides with the existence of a successful municipality in the city as well. The main steps taken in this research are listed as follows: 287 recordings of meeting proceedings (59172 minutes and 718 ordinances) were transcribed; 86 criteria and 39 main subjects of ordinances (and 147 corresponding meetings) were selected for analysis; 27 interviews were carried out with relevant people (2185 minutes in total, 1124 configured interviews and 1061 rereading of interviews) and 16 important subjects of decisions were discerned; phrases were coded (9 main codes and 49 specific codes); the configuration of each interview was illustrated; the narration tree and the tree of important decisions by the council were drawn; 10 main narratives were written and the relation between the narratives and radial framework of relational mechanism of decision making by city council in towns was formed; the narrative of the mechanism of decision making by city council for the management of towns was reread and finally the matrix of proposed relations between narratives and solutions was drawn. Having utilized the mentioned framework for extraction of the main concepts of decision making mechanism for the management of towns in the case study, the decision making mechanism of the town of Natanz can be described as “the illusion of democracy, want of autonomy” (the selected narrative titles are the result of emergent codes and in most cases created from the combination of the statements of the interviewees and the analysis and findings of the researcher as the tool of action research) . Other formulated narratives of the experience of the decision making mechanism for the management of towns in the studied case are as follows: “spiral weakening”, “city council, unwelcomed guest”, “election, the goal of the council not its beginning”, “expectations of people from the council, big decisions calamity”, “ethnic, familial and face to face informal relations, the prime suspect”, “(non)public participation”, “powerful nationals”, “obedient mayor, the council’s favorite” and “central connecting ring, the only way of survival”. Referencing the local level and emphasizing the importance of studying its unknown aspects, this research further proved that indeed moving towards good governance is possible in local communities. It can then be integrated into higher levels as well. Therefore, in the end, the relation of each narrative with the threefold solution of good governance, integrated management and local government, was determined as well.
