Introduction / Hans-Liudger Dienel, M. Reza Shirazi, Sabine Schr�oder and Jenny Schmithals -- Participatory framework -- Citizens participation in historical and current urban management systems in Iran / Hossein Imani Jajarmi -- The role of participation in iran after the shift in urban governance in 1997 / Zahed Shafiei -- Historical obstacles preventing public participation in Iran : a planning practitioner's point of view / Jahanshah Pakzad -- Participative methods and instruments -- Neighbourhood councils and local civic associations in Tehran, opportunities and challenges / Zahed Shafiei -- "Facilitation office", a paradigmatic shift or a pragmatic tool? / M.Reza Shirazi and Somaiyeh Falahat -- Urban regeneration policy in Iran : moving from hierarchy to participation : the case of the facilitation office of development in Farahzad / Mahfarid Mansoorian -- "School mayors of Iran" : a project for social participation in urban life : lessons learned / Parviz Piran -- A citizens exhibition in Hashtgerd new town : young cities : developing urban energy efficiency : a view from Hashtgerd citizens / Sabine Schr�oder and Jennt Schmithals -- Possibilities of participation for sustainable urban development in the city of Arak : future workshop in the sense of action research / Mohsen Makki and Mahkam Safaei-Shahverdi -- Perspectives of different stakeholders -- Evaluation of participatory plans in Iran : from reality to operation / Hamid Majdei and Zahra Sadat Saeideh Zarabadi -- Communities of practice of planning in Iran and integration of residents into planning / Maryam Kohansal Nodehi and Kaveh Fouladinasab -- Promoting public participation and climate change consideration in local government : the case study of Iran / Ghazaleh Jasbi -- Local case studies -- Developing a common vision in the yousef-abad neighbourhood in Tehran : a comparison of traditional meeting-based and web-based techniques of public participation / Naser Barakpour and Marjan Sharafi -- World bank participatory urban projects for enabling and regularizing informal settlements in Iran : from ambitions to reality / Kaveh Fouladinasab and Maryam Kohansal Nodehi -- Tracking citizen participation in informal settlements' upgrading programmes : case study of bandar-abbas city's informal settlements upgrading project in Iran / Arman Fathejalali and Mojtaba Rafian -- Concluding remark: paradox of citizen partipation in Iran / M. Reza Shirazi.