Institutionalism in Strategic Structural Plans (A Grounded Theory Approach)

Abstract

Nowadays, planning is no longer considered merely a scientific and technical career nor a<br />government responsibity. It rather functions as a bridge connecting the planners to institutional changes. In other<br />words, the planning theory does not develop in a social, economic and political vacuum, but is formulated by<br />individuals in social situations with the aim of clarifying the enviroment recommending appropriate procedures and<br />processes. The purpose of this research was to identify the explanatory and normative capability of the Strategic<br />Structural Plans theory in the context of institutionalism so as to enhance the capacity of its application in practice. For<br />this purpose, the grounded theory was adopted as a research strategy within the framework of qualitative methodology.<br />The data collection instruments involved desk study, interviews with experts, managers and specialists, collaborative<br />observations on the environment. The research environment included macro and micro levels. At the macro level, the<br />focus was on comprehensible conditions and components of Iranian spatial planning system, while the micro level<br />served to examine on the local scale the urban planning and management through sample mining in Mashhad, Iran.<br />As a result of this analysis, a total of 159 concepts, 44 categories and 9 major categories and 6 topics were recognized.<br />Among the categories identified, institutionalism in the theory of Strategic Structural Plans was selected because of the<br />frequent appearance in the data and its relation to other categories as axial category, where the paradigm model was<br />outlined emphasizing on the causal and context condition, intervention, strategies and consequences.