sustainability Article Urban Public Policy and the Formation of Dilapidated Abandoned Buildings in Historic Cities: Causes, Impacts and Recommendations Hamed Tavakoli 1 and Massoomeh Hedayati Marzbali 2, *   Citation: Tavakoli, H.; Marzbali, M.H. Urban Public Policy and the Formation of Dilapidated Abandoned Buildings in Historic Cities: Causes, Impacts and Recommendations. Sustainability 2021, 13, 6178. https:// doi.org/10.3390/su13116178 Academic Editor: Annarita Ferrante Received: 9 April 2021 Accepted: 24 May 2021 Published: 31 May 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Masson Rd, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia; hamed.tavakoli@mail.com 2 School of Housing, Building and Building, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Gelugor 11800, Penang, Malaysia * Correspondence: hedayati@usm.my; Tel.: +60-17-447-1295 Abstract: The contradictory and inefficient nature of urban public policy in Iranian historic cities has been subject to long debates in recent years, and has even led to disorganisation in the formation of dilapidated abandoned buildings (DABs). Under the current policies, three government agencies oversee the urban management in historic cities. The projects and processes that have yet to be implemented by these agencies are crucial for solving the problems associated with DABs. This research aims to investigate the current public policies of the essential key players and stakeholders in order to ameliorate the problem of DABs, which in the literature has been proven to be associated with socio-spatial disadvantage. A qualitative semi-structured enquiry was conducted, and urban public policies were evaluated on the basis of 19 in-depth interviews regarding the three historic cities of Yazd, Kashan and Isfahan. The results were analysed using cutting and sorting techniques, and thematic and critical narrative analysis. Several inadequacies in the current urban public policy were specified. This research could help decision-makers to create efficient management plans with respect to the reduction of DABs, an approach that can be considered efficient for the regeneration of life in historic cities. Keywords: urban public policy; historic Iranian cities; dilapidated abandoned buildings; original residents 1. Introduction After hundreds of years of morphological consistency and organic growth, present-day Iranian cities have become subject to an unprecedented phenomenon that initially occurred at the beginning of the 20th century. The new social and economic changes eventually generated poverty, unemployment and inequality in the access to public services and infras- tructure amongst the residents of historic urban areas, culminating in a swift urban sprawl both outside and on the fringe of historic cities [1,2]. The urban transformations imposed by modernity demolished the old city walls and dramatically changed the physical spatial configurations of old cities [3]. According to researchers of contemporary Iranian urbanism, the exogenous socio-spatial movements since the 1920s have reshaped the historic cities [2]. Traditional cities have been carved out and transformed under capitalism and modernity to accommodate vehicular access and modern urban functionalities (Figure 1). Present-day traditional commercial structures have lost their consistency and significance as a result of the ever-rising demand for modern modalities (e.g., vehicular accessibility), whereas contemporary city fringe developments have expanded outwards, stretching far beyond the historic centres [3]. Sustainability 2021, 13, 6178. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116178 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability