An Evaluation of Promoting and Transforming Rural Areas into City in Line with Regional Development (A Case of the Villages of Tabriz)

Nowadays, the conversion of villages into cities is considered a major challenge in urbanization and development discussions, and many countries, especially developing ones, are facing this issue. In Iran, the transformation of villages into cities has also been a prominent topic in urban and rural development discussions. This is because the development of this strategy has a significant impact on improving the quality of life in rural areas, promoting balanced distribution of population, facilities, and capital, reducing migration to large cities, and overall sustainable development of regions. The present study aimed to prioritize the development of rural cities with a population of over 4000 (as case studies) in the direction of sustainable regional development in Tabriz, using 24 indicators. The research method was descriptive-analytical in terms of purpose and practicality, relying on documental and exploratory data collection. The MORIS method and centrality index were used to rank villages based on these indicators, and then the KENDAL technique was used to combine the rankings obtained from these models and prioritize the final ranking of villages suitable for promotion to cities. The results indicate that Mayan-e Sofla village is ranked first and Alvar-e Sofla village is ranked last for promotion to city status, due to the assessment of their natural, economic, and physical conditions indicating their suitability or unsuitability.