Structural-functional development policies for converted villages to cities for ordering urban network. Case of East Azerbaijan Province/Iran

Abstract

In IRAN Converting villages to new city centers is realized for the purpose of ordering urban networks via establishing new cities to service rural jurisdictions. But after converting to city, they have no special development plan and their authorities actually do not know about the problems to face with. This research has been done on 12 converted villages to cities in East Azerbaijan province (IRAN) by determining 100 indices in 9 main groups and using questionnaire, official data as well as geographical maps. After scoring each item and placing in a SWOT matrix it could be possible to propose special policies and plans for each settlements. The method can be easily applied in rural centers and small cities to help local authorities to make proper developmental decisions.

Keywords: Converted villages to city centers, urban network, SWOT analysis, East Azerbaijan province in IRAN