Identifying the key factors on regional underdevelopment using the MAC method (case study: North Khorasan Province)

Development programs are carried out to build a better future, or in other words, to shape the social construction of the future reality of countries. A very important part of this program is related to regional development. Although North Khorasan province has potential for growth and development, it is considered as an underdeveloped and deprived province. Therefore, provision of various economic, welfare and infrastructural services, social facilities, variety and health is one of the most basic planning indicators in each planning unit, especially in the cities. The purpose of this article was to identify key factors affecting the underdevelopment of economic, educational, medical and infrastructure indicators in North Khorasan province. The research is applied research and its method is descriptive and analytical, and the data collection method was done by library studies and field research. In order to rank the cities of North Khorasan in terms of underdevelopment of economic, educational-cultural, health-treatment and infrastructural indicators, Mic Mac model and Excel and Spss software were used, and Geographical Information System (GIS) was used to draw and prepare maps. The results of the research showed that among the cities of North Khorasan province in the economic sector of Esfrain, the most developed city and Mane and Samalghan were in the lowest development rank. Garme city was the most developed and the most underdeveloped city in terms of educational and cultural indicators. In terms of access to infrastructure indicators, Bojnord city is the most developed and Mane and Samlaqan are the least developed in terms of the health index, and Shirvan is the most developed and Mane and Salamqan are the least developed in the infrastructure index of North Khorasan province.