Challenges Regarding the Implementations of Urban Regeneration Projects in Cultural-Historical Districts Case: Kermanshah, Iran

Old districts of traditional cities are treasure of invaluable monuments and cultural heritage. These cultural and historical buildings and monuments turned these old areas into cultural-historical districts. The literature review of the research shows that in the past, the Old districts of traditional cities had been the core of political, social and economical movements which emphasize on their role in regional development plans. Industrial revolution and modern movement changed the situation which leads to some meaningful changes in the old districts of traditional cities. The regeneration plans have been executing in cultural and historical districts in order to improve the circumstances. The regeneration projects aimed to make a better place to live and a better neighborhood to deal with other people. But reviewing previous experiences shows that some regeneration projects were not successful in their job and could not fulfill the tasks which were promised at the beginning. This question is more important in developing countries such as Iran. The main questions of the research are: 1-What are the most important challenges regarding the implementation of urban regeneration projects in cultural – historical districts? 2- What are the differences of the stakeholders’ opinion i.e. clients, residents, shop keepers etc?

To answer the research questions case studies and combined strategies have been adopted as research method. Questionnaire is used as data gathering technique. Traditional city of Kermanshah is chosen as case study which is one of the most important historical cities of Iran. Research results show that implementation of urban regeneration projects in the historical cities, like Kermanshah, has its special problems. The most important challenges regarding the implementations of urban regeneration projects in cultural-historical districts are: 1- public participation 2- secure finance and fruitful investments 3- legal and judicial challenges 4- quality of urban life 5- development of sustainable employment 6- green space and environmental necessaries