Evaluation of Level of Development in Urban Centers(Case Study: Metropolitan Area of Tehran)

One of the main goals of planning is the establishment of a proportional distribution of resources and facilities. Obtaining the development level of each settlement can determine the way of development and growth in the region, as well as helping to identify less developed and undeveloped areas in order to provide them with a specially tailored plan to achieve the desired development.The purpose of this study is to determine the level and detection of the development of urban centers in Tehran s metropolitan area. This research investigates the metropolitan area of Tehran in the three censuses of 1987, 1997, 2007. The research method used in this research isbased on a descriptive-analytic method and the model of the Human Development Combinatorial Index (HDI) is a model for obtaining developmental level. This indicators have been studied in this study: Population of young people, household size, graduates of highereducation centers, female graduates of higher education centers, residential units with stability The scope of this research is Tehran s metropolitan area. The metropolitan area of Tehran in 1987 has 20, in 1997 it has 27 and in 2007 it has 53 urban centers. The boundaries of the Tehranmetropolitan area in this study cover the entire territory of Tehran and Alborz provinces. The results show that in all these three periods, Tehran city has the highest rank and the highest level of human development among Tehran s metropolitan cities. Also, over time, thedevelopment gap between Tehran s metropolitan cities has declined, and as regards the development of the metropolitan area, it can be stated that the eastern cities of Tehran s metropolitan area have a higher developmental level in human development than western cities.

Keywords:

Human Development , Metropolitan area , HDI