Resumen de Community-led regeneration practice in Ghalam Gudeh District, Bandar Anzali, Iran: A participatory action research (PAR) Project
Maryam Pourzakarya, Somayeh Fadaei Nezhad Bahramjerdi
Community-led regeneration has become a key issue in sustaining urban redevelopment and improving the quality-of-life. This paper explores the bottom-up regeneration practice through ten-step participatory planning by the engagement of the local community and other possible stakeholders in the Ghalam Gudeh neighbourhood, Iran. Based on the methods of qualitative study and participatory action research, the paper mostly aims to understand the contribution of community-led regeneration strategies to a socially deprived area similar to the empirical study by conducting interviews, workshops and meetings. The strategies included empowerment, capacity-building, co-experience of creative activities and grouping of residents with the support of facilitators and local authorities. Consequently, it has led to the establishment of a Neighbourhood Development Centre as well as modelling the neighbourhood vision and a participatory regeneration framework. The results indicated that based on trust-building and awareness-raising, residents tended to get engaged in the regeneration process despite contradictory attitudes towards community-led regeneration project. With the involvement and empowerment of participants, it is possible to develop an integrated vision aimed at transforming the economic, socio-cultural, physical, and environmental circumstances of the area to increase the level of quality of living.
