This research examines the approved land use changes in the urban areas by the Article Five Commission of the Supreme Council of Urban Planning and Architecture, in line with the five terms of Mashhad City Council's activities. The role of the City Council in relation to these approvals is also studied, and the approaches governing these changes in the study period are identified. The study method is descriptive-analytical and has been conducted using quantitative-qualitative methods. The data was obtained by referring to the Council's archive of approvals (including 4530 approvals in five terms of the City Council's activities), in which 341 approvals related to urban land use changes were identified. Among these, approvals directly and indirectly related to the research topic were stored in Excel software (7.6% of total approvals with an average of 69 approvals per term). Subsequently, using content analysis method (open-coding, axial-coding, selective-coding), the approvals were evaluated, and the dominant approaches to planning in each term and the overall approach to land use changes were examined, indicating a special emphasis on physical and economic dimensions. As a result, in open-coding, 13 axes, in axial-coding, 4 important themes, and in selective-coding, three issues of predicting future population needs, preventing conflicting and contradictory activities, and facilitating and providing citizens' basic needs were obtained. The results of this research indicate a change in approaches to land use changes in each term, in various subjects. On one hand, the main focus of the approaches is mainly on urbanization and urban development and public services, with proposals made in this regard.