Hadi Balouei Jamkhaneh

Introduction and Purpose: Rapid urbanization in recent decades has significantly increased the complexity of urban management and intensified citizens’ expectations regarding transparency, accountability, service quality, and institutional effectiveness. In Iran, where nearly three-quarters of the population reside in urban areas, municipalities face mounting pressure to deliver efficient public services under financial and institutional constraints. In this context, urban governance has emerged as a vital conceptual and operational framework for improving managerial performance and enhancing citizen satisfaction. Although the concept of “good urban governance” has been widely discussed, many empirical studies have relied primarily on static or cross-sectional approaches. Such studies often examine limited dimensions of governance, overlooking the dynamic evolution of performance over time. This limitation is particularly relevant in developing countries, where frequent managerial changes, policy discontinuities, and institutional instability significantly influence the effectiveness of local governance. Consequently, a methodological gap remains in evaluating how different dimensions of good urban governance evolve dynamically and how their relative performance contributes to citizen satisfaction. The present study addresses this gap by conducting a dynamic evaluation and ranking of good urban governance dimensions in Bushehr, Iran, with a specific emphasis on citizen satisfaction. By applying the Dynamic Grey Relational Analysis (D-GRA) approach, this research aims to identify which governance dimensions demonstrate stronger temporal alignment with the desired governance pattern and which require greater policy attention to improve their effectiveness and stability.. Methodology: This research adopts an applied, quantitative approach. Initially, a systematic review of international and national literature was conducted to identify common governance indicators. Bas