In contemporary professional and managerial discourse in Iran, the condition of the cityscape is frequently characterized as an “urban landscape crisis”—a crisis articulated through concepts such as disorder, visual chaos, and a lack of identity. Within this framework, analyses are generally predicated on a linear “symptom-pathology-treatment” model: the heterogeneity and multiplicity of building facades are presented as the symptom, “personal tastes” as the pathogenic factor, and normative and legal interventions via codes and regulations as the ultimate solution. Adopting a critical approach, this paper argues that such a formulation, rather than elucidating the urban landscape crisis, is itself the manifestation of a crisis in comprehending it.

The article demonstrates that the dominant diagnostic framework, relying on specific epistemological assumptions, reduces the urban landscape to purely visual dimensions and, ultimately, to mere “building facades.” This reductionism—rooted in technocratic and modernist representations of the city alongside a logic of governance based on “seeing”—overlooks numerous physical, social, environmental, and experiential dimensions that shape landscape perception. Consequently, it confines urban policies to the superficial control of the city’s visual image. Accordingly, this study concludes that resolving the problem of the urban landscape fundamentally necessitates a rethinking of the conceptual frameworks that govern its understanding.