Analyze the ranking of the urban locatinal competitiveness of the centers of the provinces of Iran based on the Principal Component Analysis (PCA)

In spite of the complexity of the concept of competitiveness, its goal is, to some extent clear to be able to outperform other competitors. The four components of urban competitiveness are economic, socio-cultural, environmental and locational. The general objective of this research is to identify the factors influencing the promotion of urban locational competitiveness. From the UN perspective, there are three different ways of identifying the real factors of urban competitiveness. With regard to the research paradigm, which is positivist, a quantitative/ statistical method was chosen among the three methods proposed. Urban competitiveness locational indicators are Hypsography, Location Conditions, Accessibility, and Spatial Data Infrastructure. The main component analysis is the data analysis method using SPSS and Minitab software and XLSTAT. The first five main components explain 0.87 variance; therefore, the examination of the five main components is sufficient, and the ranking is performed based on the first component. Among the suggestions of this research for future researchers is that due to the difference in the urban management model at different levels of the cities in the country, their criteria get prepared and set with regard to their demographic, climatic, cultural and political conditions.