Journal of Urban Studies on Space and Place

Abstract The complex developments of cities and the necessity of evidence-based decision-making have highlighted the role of urban observatories as one of the key tools of urban governance. Despite the conceptual and technical development of urban observatories in Iran, the weakness in formal institutional structures and the lack of coherent organizational, legal, and executive frameworks have challenged the efficiency and sustainability of these institutions. The present study aims to develop a formal institutional model supporting the urban observatory of municipalities, focusing on the municipality of Yazd. This study is applied-developmental in terms of purpose and mixed (qualitative-quantitative) in terms of methodology. In this article, stakeholder analysis methods have been carried out using power-benefit matrix analysis, descriptive statistics analysis, and nonparametric Friedman mean and Spearman correlation tests in the SPSS software environment. The results of the analyses show that the urban observatory can be implemented in the Yazd city municipality, and the most important findings from the analyses show that the development of an institutional model supporting the urban observatory consists of evaluation and reporting measures, sustainability and institutionalization, monitoring and supervision, data collection and management, security, rule of law, design and formulation, implementation and implementation of the program and stakeholders. The success and sustainability of the urban observatory requires formal institutional support, a transparent governance structure, an integrated data system, legal and security requirements, active participation of stakeholders, and continuous organizational learning. The proposed model can be used as an operational framework to promote data-based decision-making, transparency, accountability, and improvement of urban management in municipalities.