Public spaces have important role in city life, are so effective for cities for appropriate quality of life and economic, social and cultural development.
Public space planning takes place in political, economic and socio-cultural context in planning traditions. The question is how planning traditions affect public space planning? The relation between two concepts above is “public interest” that is common in all planning approaches and overlaps with the subject of public space directly. The research process starts with studying public space criterions (government role, public sphere, complexity, diversity, social goals and participation) and planning traditions, and compares planning traditions regarded to public space by theoretical analysis of intersectional matrix of planning features and public space criterions. The differences, limits and capabilities of planning traditions, make different approaches for reaching social goals and different response to diversity and dynamics of cities. That would be happened according to structural context of planning. The public space with multi-dimensional features includes social interactions and diverse interests and goals. It’s more compatible wth participatory planning approaches which are more focusing on social and non-physical aspects. The participatory approaches take more attention to diverse groups and interests as well as relational and participatory methods in planning processes. Urban planning in Iran needs to be changed to participatory approaches which take attention to diversity and urban dynamics in public space.