The analysis of gap between the cities of East Azerbaijan province during development trajectory between 1997 and 2012

One of the major steps in regional planning is recognition of economic, social, cultural, and political inequality as well as other development aspects in different regions. The objective of this study is to analyze and examine the development trend of different cities of the East Azerbaijan province as possessed development indicators between 1997 and 2012. The research is a descriptive one and in terms of data collecting it is a documentary research. Weighted numerical taxonomy method and cluster analysis were applied for classification and also standard deviation for analyzing the development trend of the East Azerbaijan over the mentioned period. The average score of numerical taxonomy of province’s cities showed that facilities and services did not develop enough to fit the population in various areas of the province. Standard deviation of numerical taxonomy scores have reached from 0.136 to 0.083 which indicates a decline both in development gap and in inequalities among cities of the province. The redults show that cities of Tabriz and Maragheh are the most developed cities while Khoda-afarin and Charavimagh the poorest cities of the province. In general, cities of the the eastern half of the province are more developed than those of western half of the province. Regarding development downward trend among cities of Azerbaijan province since 1997 to 2012 and also a decline in inequalities level in the province it is said that a decline in inequalities amongst cities led to a decrease in the degree of development throughout the geographical scope of the province. Continuity of this trend will intensify the deprivation crisis throughout the development process of the province.