An Assessment of the Causal Model of Effective Metrics on Urban Competitiveness Using a Fuzzy DEMATEL Approach

At the beginning of the 21st century, globalization and innovation in the field of information technology and, consequently, the formation of the flow of space, have made cities, in national spaces, like multinational corporations, increasingly compete gain economic benefits. In the past, competition was associated with companies and manufacturing institutions, but as globalization and networking of the global economy began to emerge, cities have always enjoyed a special status as a node in network economy, and it is believed that the competition is at the same level with national competition. Today, perhaps one of the most successful ways to transform a city into a city with a successful economy is to use the concept of a competitive city. Competitiveness of cities has a crucial role in urban development, and in this way, it will provide sustainable revenues for urban managers in these urban areas. Therefore, this research has been conducted with the aim of explaining the causal model of effective measures on the competitiveness of the city. The present research is applied in terms of purpose, and descriptive-causal based on method. The statistical sample of the study consisted of 30 experts related to urban economics. In order to achieve the aim of the study, fuzzy DEMATEL technique was used. The research findings indicated that based on D-R values, among the four criteria of urban competitiveness, the economic criterion with the value of 0.833 is the most influential and the environmental criteria with the value of 0.689 has been influenced the most of urban competitiveness. In addition, based on Dvalues, the economic criterion with the value of (2.671) was identified as the most important criterion for urban competitiveness.