Alireza Mohammadi - Assistant Professor of Geography and Urban Planning, Faculty of Humanities, University ofMohaghegh Ardabili

From the second half of the 1960s, a master and rational approach to the planning of urbandevelopment has been proposed in the literature. The first master urban plans in Iran have beenprepared since 1967 and registered in the municipal laws of Iran since 1975. Preparation andimplementation of these plans has continued up to 2016, and according to the evidence anddocuments, there is not any specific plan for the modification of the urban planning in the next years.Although the implementation of these plans have had some positive results in some cases, but due tothe lack of fulfillment of the objectives of the plans in the implementation, criticism began from theearliest years and continued to the present days. Despite the criticisms made in recent decades, thiscriticisms have not had tangible results and have not led to serious changes in the urban developmenttools. This study aims to pathology the master urban plans, according to records and studies, in theseven stages from the policy stage to the review and modification. The seven stages include policy,guidance, planning, monitoring the planning, implementation, monitoring the implementation,reviewing and revising the plan. The findings of this study based on summing up of the history andbackground of the subject; show that the master city plans in Iran have many shortcomings, in thevarious stages as well as the implementation. However, due to the lack of proper urban developmentplans, these plans are still prepared and executed. As a result, these plans now need to be modified inorder to respond to the needs of the new urbanism or be replaced with suitable plans. This requires achange in the policy, laws and spatial planning in Iran. Finally, some suggestions for modifying themaster plans or replacing them with proper urban development plans have been presented

Urban planning, Master plans, Pathology, Iran