The quality of the implementation of urban design in developing countries usually faces financial, technical, political, and cultural challenges. Despite the important role of urban design in enhancing the quality of urban development in Iran, the implementation of urban design projects is usually evaluated using quantitative methods, and the appropriate process required for reaching the product , contextual requirement, goals, and issues related to the quality of implementation, are neglected. So, with the emphasis on the need to replace qualitative-normative criteria with the quantitative - physical ones, the present study aims to propose a model of the factors affecting the quality of the implementation of urban design projects and understand how they interact by examining the Shohada Square project in Mashhad (the second largest Iranian city) as the case study. The reason for the selection of this project is that it is one of the most important urban design plans in the last decade. To this end, after reviewing the literature, the factors affecting the quality of the implementation of urban design projects are extracted and the relevant challenges are identified using directed content analysis and library study. Next, they are examined in the case study through observations, and semi-structured interviews. Accordingly, concepts associated with the quality of the implementation of urban design projects can be modeled in terms of the hierarchical dimensions of the background and context, the actors, and the design approach. The results indicate that the factors affecting the quality of the implementation of urban design projects are including attention to economic and financial mechanisms, political-legal context quality, identification of effective institutions and groups, the motivations of actors, elimination of conflicts by guiding the decision-making environment, application of the process approach and the hierarchy of design documents. To investigate challenges pertaining to implementation of this project and proposing a model, after reviewing the literature, by applying directed content analysis, the theoretical components of implementation in urban design are extracted and assessed in case study through observation, methodical interview, and document content analysis. This study with the emphasis on the need to replace qualitative-normative criteria with the quantitative‏- physical ones, suggests a primary model for correcting the neglected areas to improve the quality of the implementation of urban design plans. Therefore, concepts associated with the quality of the implementation of urban design projects can be modeled in terms of the hierarchical dimensions of the background and context, the actors, and the design approach. Taking the quality of economic and financial mechanisms into account, political-legal contextual quality , the motivations of developers, eliminating conflicts by guiding the decision-making environment , using the process approach and the hierarchy continuum of design documents can be effective agents in improving this quality.

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