Measurement of Spatial and Cultural Disparities between Towns Using the VIKOR Model (Case study: Towns of Kermanshah)

Culture is one of the utmost important issues affecting behaviors in human communities. In most developing countries, the cultural development is taken into account as one of the main parameters of the development process. Thus to plan, and to allocate resources and funds between different regions, identifying the position of the region in the relevant sector and ranking the privilege of development benefits are essential. The present study aims to assess and analyze the level of cultural development and regional inequality among the towns of Kermanshah Province through Entropy-VIKOR model. A descriptive, quantitative and analytical research approach is used to describe the statistical population including 14 towns of Kermanshah Province. In this research project, 20 cultural indices have been used for ranking and positioning each town in four ranks including Developed (high -privileged), Developing (privileged), under developed (semi- privileged) and the least developed (not-privileged). The findings have revealed that only Islam Abad Qarb and Kermanshah (the capital of Kermanshah Province) are ranked first and among the developed towns; Sahneh is placed in the developing rank; Kangavar, Sonqor, Harsin, Paveh, Sarpol Zahab, Gilan Qarb, Qasre Shirin are among the under-developed towns, and Ravansar, Dalahou, Salas Babajani and Javanroud among the least developed ones. The results indicate that regional cultural inequalities are extremely high in the province and quite against the social equality, which significantly illustrates the necessity of equal distribution of cultural resources and services in terms of cultural development.