The Role of Ethnicity and Boundary in the Function of Urban Areas; Case Study: Azerbaijan Region

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 - Assistant Professor of Geography and Urban planning, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran

2 - PhD Student of Geography and Urban planning, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran

3 - M.A Student of Political Geography, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Introduction
Recognition inequality and imbalance within the different geographical regions (country, province, county and ward) is the basic duty of the trustee development. Considering the status of economic and social indicators is essential in order to provide development strategy of the region. In fact, the need for planning arises from the awareness of the problems or the development of spatial organization. Spatial organization explains the relationship between human, environment and human activities in space, which is related to the distribution pattern of population, and economic activity and social interaction between them. Spatial organization of the country is faced with an imbalance in the country. The study of economic, social- cultural, infrastructure, health, sports, and transportation indicators in areas is necessary to determine eligibility. Also, the study of effective factors is essential in order to develop strategies for regional development and also to reduce inequality. This article tries to describe the function and development of urban areas in Azerbaijan affected some variables like ethnicity and borders function.
 
Methodology
The research method is based on descriptive- analytic method. Data gathering procedure is based on library findings. Some documents are collected from the Statistical Center of Iran, Management and Planning Organization of East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan and Ardabil.
 
Results and Discussion
The study of effective factors is essential in order to develop strategies for regional development and also to reduce inequality. To accomplish this goal use of the economic, social, cultural, educational, health indexes is essential. These indicators can show the level of wealth and well-being and the development of geographical places based on selected criteria. The most important step in the regional development is determining these parameters. Variables are the raw numbers cannot measure the level of development in selected geographical places. First of all, indicators that could be used in the present study were selected. In the next step, cities based on indexes were selected, and then the data for the indicators were collected from the center. To understand the overall condition of the cities, the urban area is graded in terms of performance. Factor analysis model was selected for the study. Analysis results show that cities near the border were poorly, in terms of performance; this matter can have two reasons: 1- lack of capital, because these cities are located in the boundary regions, consequently are poor and have low services. 2- Security perspectives, boundaries regions were turbulent, in particular southern cities of West Azerbaijan province in recent decades. As a result of the investments this trend has changed. In addition, the ethnicity variables were analyzed. The assumption was that ethnicity-based research can be influential in the Azerbaijani cities. Cities were divided into three groups based on ethnicity: Turkish cities, Kurdish and mixed (Turkish, Kurdish). The cultural- social factors indicate that there are significant differences between the cities.
 
Conclusions
Generally, there is a tendency to focus on the perspective of the entire system of planning. The results show that some factors are influential in the performance of cities. On the other hand, because of the historical events in the recent years like the formation of the Soviet Union and the formation of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the war between Iran and Iraq, boundary cities have a high risk to public and private sector investment. Despite the strong potential of Azerbaijan boundary cities, these cities have been unable to make progress. However, in recent years, with increase in borders security and within crease in the investment cities can make progress.
   
 

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