A comparative investigation of spatial structure and benefits of urbanization (a case study Shiraz and Central Mazandaran)

In recent years, there has been extensive literature on spatial structure of metropolitan areas and its economic consequences, with emphasis on concepts of poly-centricity and agglomeration economies. Defenders of polycentric regions claim that these areas can make a balance between advantages and disadvantages of agglomeration to create competitive advantages comparing with mono-centric regions, while avoiding excessive concentration and congestion of competitor region. However, there are few studies that have examined these approaches adaptively. Hence, this paper aims to make a comparative study of two metropolitan areas of Shiraz and central Mazandaran to investigate some of the claims about links between spatial structure optimization and advantages of accumulation. The Methodology of the research is based on descriptive and statistical analysis such as Ciccone-Hall and Herfindahl index. The results showed that the spatial structure of the region with emphasis on the concept of polycentric and distribution is scattered and polycentric pattern of central region of Mazandaran against centralized and mono-centric Shiraz metropolitan area. In this context, from the perspective of the consumer, the lack of a dominant urban culture and urban environment should be considered as an important factor in the failure to achieve urbanization advantages. This is an obstacle to achieving higher performance services and facilities, especially lowering private sector investment. However, the findings from the analysis defend relatively equal diversification of production in region of Central Mazandaran against Shiraz metropolitan area, and consider it as a big factor to create complementary links between urban centers in the region. Also, it seems a polycentric pattern without sharing their resources in order to provide more facilities and Infrastructures in regional level cannot be defined in achieving localization advantages as a close rival to mono-centric metropolitan area.