Urban Planning
F. Samanpour; N. Barakpour; M. Maghsudi
Abstract
To learn participatory and pragmatic urban planning, students have to engage with the society in real and ultra-disciplinary settings. In some universities, such an opportunity is provided through provision of voluntary civil services. But this kind of services has not been included in the official programs ...
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To learn participatory and pragmatic urban planning, students have to engage with the society in real and ultra-disciplinary settings. In some universities, such an opportunity is provided through provision of voluntary civil services. But this kind of services has not been included in the official programs of the urban planning in Iran while the highly centralized academic administration makes any formal alteration very difficult. The aim of this article is to examine the possibility of introducing civil services within the current administration. It was pursued through an action research which tried to establish service at studio level. This kind of service is mostly known as “service-learning”. A review of the literature showed that service-learning in the field of urban planning suffers from the isolation of universities from the society. This problem manifests itself at two levels: the administrative structure and the professional techniques of participation. Focusing on the professional level, the pragmatic formulation of democratic engagement of universities is reviewed. Using this foundation, an alternative method of participation based on the analogy and metaphor is introduced. This method was adopted, reflected on and reformed within three semesters of action research. The final edition of the method satisfactorily eased the technical problems and justified the voluntary service for students within the current administration. But the collaborating professors rejected the sufficiency of the mere method, without structural modifications. The probable reasons for that rejection are discussed for further studies.
Future Studies of Higher Education
M. Shirvani; M.R. Eivazi; H. Ghasemi
Abstract
The emergence of the trans-disciplinary of futures studies after World War II put aside prophet-like fortune-telling and predictions. This trans-disciplinary, having undergone ups and downs during the recent decades, always tried to provide some scientific propositions about the future. Among these, ...
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The emergence of the trans-disciplinary of futures studies after World War II put aside prophet-like fortune-telling and predictions. This trans-disciplinary, having undergone ups and downs during the recent decades, always tried to provide some scientific propositions about the future. Among these, different approaches and concepts were proposed in the field of futures studies, and each despite commonalities has specific futures and distinctions. One of these most important concepts is the concept of strategic foresight. This paper aims at exploring the quiddity of this concept. First, the significance and position of the strategic foresight in futures studies was defined and delineated, and then the interdisciplinary identity of this concept and its epistemological basis were analyzed. The findings indicated that strategic foresight as an interdisciplinary is progressing, and unlike some other, approaches of futures studies were not associated with failure and decline. This interdisciplinary benefits from some kind of inter-paradigm rationality, and consistent with its features it can be highly efficient in different contexts of long-term planning of the country, especially in economy. Finally, some suggestions were made to pay more attention to and apply strategic foresight in the country.
Mohammad Hosein Hasani
Abstract
Methodology of interdisciplinary social sciences has been evolved during the time and has been faced with fundamental challenges; in the beginning, it has experienced positivistic paradigm and quantitative approach in understanding social phenomena and later recognized that this approach is not appropriate ...
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Methodology of interdisciplinary social sciences has been evolved during the time and has been faced with fundamental challenges; in the beginning, it has experienced positivistic paradigm and quantitative approach in understanding social phenomena and later recognized that this approach is not appropriate for understanding all aspects of social phenomenon. So, inspired by interpretive, has been focused on qualitative methods and turned his attention from the outer layers to the inner layers of social reality. Along with strengthening qualitative approaches, a considerable intellectual divide between qualitative and quantitative researchers. This divide, emerging primarily as confrontation later as collaboration, helped raising the third wave of methodology; mixed methods based on pragmatism. Mixed methodologist and interdisciplinary researchers intended to make something new and without a special emphasis, integrate quantitative and qualitative approaches for better understanding of social phenomena. Using documentary method, this paper introduces the basic concepts of mixed methodology.
