تحليل فضايي توسعه شهري در ايران (رشد تعداد شهرها)

Spatial Analysis of Urban Development in Iran

Urbanization occurs when sector composition changes from agriculture to industry. Technology improvement in agriculture releases labor from this section and causes labor to immigrate from rural areas to urban areas. Population movements from rural to urban areas change spatial shape of a country. This change will lead to the growth of existing cities, creating new cities, and/or both. This urban development has two sides: growth in number of cities and growth in sizes of cities. This study considers only the growth in number of cities. This paper tests the impact of economic factors on urban development through traditional and spatial specification of Hendersonʹs models for Iranʹs urban system in 1966-96. The results show that considered factors has affected the growth of number of cities in Iran, although there has not been significant spatial dependence.