An investigation of spatial and hierarchical distribution of urban places in Mazandaran Province

The exogenous pattern of development weakened the traditional relationship among the urban places in Iran. The high urban growth led to the emergence of primate city which gavespecial hegemony to the capital Tehran. One of the main consequences of urban growth in the country has been the disintegration of urban network system. Evidences show that the province has experienced demographical transitions which the large central cities tended to cluster and forming a regional dominance on the urban network system. The present paper aims to examine the change and distribution of urban network in Mazandaran province. The methodology of the research is based on a descriptive-analytical method by using rank-size rule, Christaller and primate city index to determine the hierarchical order of urban places in the region. The results revealed that the regular urban network has changed to the irregular urban pattern which however has a more balanced pattern compared to the arid and semi-arid areas of Iran but smaller urban centers losing their importance in the benefit of the larger cities. It could be concluded that with respect to the balancing role of small and intermediate towns, it is quit logical to define more functions for the smaller urban settlements to distribute socio-economic opportunities for an appropriate urban network system.