Enhancing environmental perception, awareness and knowledge through education cause to environmentally- friendly behavior. For this reason, assessment of need as a part of educational process is critical for improving urban environmental planning. Therefore, an educational need assessment of co-councils who are local community representatives is vital towards a sustainable urban management. In this way, the purpose of this descriptive research study was to provide information on the knowledge of the environmental concepts and dimensions, environmental tools and environmental management methods by co-councils in Tehran. Results showed that although they have an average knowledge about the structure and functions of environment, they did not have qualified level of capabilities on understanding how to use some environmental tools e.g. social impact assessment and environmental auditing. Finally, results revealed that the majority of respondents preferred and perceived events, television and publications as important sources of the environmental knowledge.
Enhancing environmental perception, awareness and knowledge through education cause to environmentally- friendly behavior. For this reason, assessment of need as a part of educational process is critical for improving urban environmental planning. Therefore, an educational need assessment of co-councils who are local community representatives is vital towards a sustainable urban management. In this way, the purpose of this descriptive research study was to provide information on the knowledge of the environmental concepts and dimensions, environmental tools and environmental management methods by co-councils in Tehran. Results showed that although they have an average knowledge about the structure and functions of environment, they did not have qualified level of capabilities on understanding how to use some environmental tools e.g. social impact assessment and environmental auditing. Finally, results revealed that the majority of respondents preferred and perceived events, television and publications as important sources of the environmental knowledge.