Industrial revolution in the late nineteenth century in Western societies was a new emerging phenomenon promising a better life for the future of humanity. However, its development and growth exposed human values to fundamental changes. The challenge shaped between the development and growth of the industry and human values spread quickly to other sections. Artificial environment were one of these sections. Before the emergence of the industrial revolution the development and growth of cities were through a ritual process and there wasn’t any challenge between the development process and values. Urban values can be categorized on three parts issues of cultural-historical values, issues of skeletal-physical values, issues of environmental perceptions values. The aim of this research is to study the challenges between the development and conservation of the urban values, raising the question that ‘what has been the position of urban values in the development of the cities of Iran?’ In spite of the fact that the historical cores of the cities are valuable, there has been no attention to the present values in the process of the urban contemporary development. The present research is of the fundamental-development research type using the interpretive-historical method by data-gathering and qualitative analyses. The research revealed that the development process was based on the identity and cultural values in the cities of Iran before the advent of modernity and since the city met the existing needs, a desired coordination was shaped between urban values and development; however, the arrival of new urban elements supported legally by the government led to ignorance of many urban values in the contemporary development.

Keywords: Urban value; urban conservation; historical context; Isfahan.