Hosein Mousazadeh - M.c student of Geography and Urban Planning, University of Golestan, Gorgan, Iran.
Esmail Shahkouhi - Assistant Professor of Geography Group, Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran.
Esmail Mohajer - Assistant Professor of Geography Group, Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran.
Alireza Khajeh Shahkoohi - Assistant Professor of Geography Group, Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran.

Gorgan city recently with the increase in population compared to the total population of the province and the most attraction of urban services and facilities was faced with the emergence and dominance of urban primacy. In order to balance the distribution of the population, yet different strategies employed by one of these policies, the development of small towns. Hence, in order to achieve balanced development and regional integration in space, creating a balanced and systematic hierarchy of basic needs is ordered, in the meantime, due to the small towns of the state is one of the ways to equilibration. The study aimed to evaluate the performance of the small towns in the territory of Iran and is conducted using descriptive - analytical and survey. Small towns in this study are: Kordkoy, Ramian, Galougah, Azadshahr, Bandar Turkmen, Bandar Gaz, Aqqala and Ali Abad Katoul where were used to examine the demographic and socio-economic dimensions of tensile strength ratio, entropy and multivariable regression model. The results indicate that the coefficient of elasticity of most cities in Aliabad, Aqqala and Kordkoy are more than to other cities in the region. The results obtained from the model entropy show that the small towns in the study area cause population balance in the region. Finally, the results of multiple regressions indicated the decline of agriculture and the rise of the service sector in small towns.

small towns, the land, regional planning, Gorgan