چکیده:
On one hand, the lack of attention to the urban system and the way urban centers and hubs are dispersed across the land, and on the other hand, the rapid growth of urbanization, will lead to fragmentation and a lack of cohesion in the spatial structure. In such conditions, many development policies at the national and regional levels will lose their effectiveness and will not bring the expected results. In this article, the urban system of East Azerbaijan province was examined and analyzed using common models and techniques in the field of urban systems, such as numerical taxonomy, rank-size rule, class differentiation limit model, entropy coefficient, and urban primacy indices. The research method was descriptive-analytical. First, statistical data were analyzed, and then the research results were plotted using GIS, SAS, and Excel software. The results of this research showed that the spatial distribution of cities and urban population in East Azerbaijan province is unbalanced. The city of Tabriz, with its diverse and extensive functions and strong functional area, has always enjoyed a prominent national and regional position and, by attracting the population of surrounding areas as a dominant city, has caused an imbalance in the province's urban system.
خلاصه ماشینی:
The results of this research showed that the spatial distribution of cities and the urban population at the level of East Azerbaijan province is unbalanced.
The city of Tabriz, having diverse and extensive functions and a strong functional sphere, has always enjoyed an excellent national and regional position and, by attracting the population of surrounding areas as a dominant city, has caused imbalance in the province's urban system.
In Iran as well, until the year 1300, the spatial system of population and activity enjoyed a relatively balanced distribution, but in recent decades, economic transformations and political interventions in the country have caused an increase in urban population and disproportionate growth in many of the country's cities.
Research Objective The objective of this research is to provide a visual representation of how the population is distributed, the balances and imbalances in the urban system, and the ranking of the province's cities based on quantitative and qualitative indicators and their level of development.
Research Hypothesis The city of Tabriz, by having diverse and extensive functions and a strong functional sphere in East Azerbaijan province, has acted as a dominant city and, by attracting the population of surrounding areas, has caused imbalance in the provincial urban system.
Map 1: Clustering of the degree of development of the province's cities using the nearest neighbor hierarchical method (Refer to the page image) According to table number 4 and the curve obtained from it (diagram 2), in East Azerbaijan province, due to the existence of a primate urban pattern, the inconsistency of the urban hierarchy in relation to the rank and size of urban locations is clearly evident.
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