Explaining a Communication-Oriented Functionalism Model for Achieving Participation in Urban Regeneration: The Case of Javadiyeh and Imam Hadi Neighborhoods in Bojnord

Abstract

This study aimed to explain the role of participation in urban regeneration and develop a context-specific model integrating functionalism and communicative planning to promote effective participation in the Javadiyeh and Imam Hadi neighborhoods of Bojnord, Iran. This qualitative study adopted an exploratory-deductive strategy grounded in social constructivism and interpretivism. Participants included managers and experts from governmental and urban management institutions, university researchers, private-sector actors, investors, facilitators, and representatives of the local community. Participants were recruited through purposive and snowball sampling, and interviews continued until theoretical saturation was reached, resulting in 21 semi-structured interviews. Data were additionally obtained through content analysis of urban regeneration documents concerning Bojnord and relevant higher-level laws and regulations. Qualitative data were analyzed through thematic analysis involving open, axial, and selective coding with MAXQDA software. Data triangulation, member checking, peer review, and thick description of the research context were employed to enhance the trustworthiness of the findings. The analysis revealed a fundamental gap between the participatory discourse articulated in official documents and actual urban regeneration practices. The dominant model was characterized by functionalist, technical-managerial, and top-down orientations, with citizen participation largely restricted to symbolic and instrumental mechanisms. Interview analysis indicated that effective participation should instead constitute a multistage, reciprocal process involving citizens actively in planning, implementation, and monitoring. The absence of sustainable institutional platforms, centralized urban management, insufficient social trust, and weak intermediary mechanisms emerged as major barriers to genuine participation. The local scale was identified as the most appropriate context for effective participation. Moreover, neither pure functionalism nor communicative planning alone adequately addressed the complexities of participation; their integration provided a more appropriate framework for the studied context. The proposed “communication-oriented functionalism” model, founded on institutional reengineering, stakeholder empowerment, and the design of an incentive system, can facilitate a transition from symbolic toward sustainable and influential participation. By strengthening trust, social capital, local institutions, and dialogue-based processes, this model offers a viable framework for improving participatory governance in urban regeneration.