An Analysis of the Foundational Dichotomies in Public Interest Concept in Urban Planning and Policy-Making

The concept of ‘public interest’ over the past decades, and in the form of discussions and debates, has always been regarded as one of the most foundational bases serving the legitimation and justification of ‘urban planning’ and ‘policy making’ .Nevertheless, one of the important weaknesses in this regard is the lack of clarity and transparency of this conceptual domain. Especially in the Persian language, the literature in this theoretical field is highly limited and often related to disciplines such as political science and philosophy. In this study, after explaining a general history of this concept in knowledge and practice of urban planning using literature review and meta-analytical methodology, we focused on identifying and analyzing the foundational dichotomies inherent in this term and concept. The clarification of these issues, by extending the horizons of those interested in this field of research, can prevent the epistemic gap arising from merely relying on only one aspect of these dichotomies and from numerous misunderstandings and consequently contradictions in planning theory and practice.