Impact of Urban Sectoral Specialization on Urban Growth in Iran

There are different studies in urban literature on the determinants of urban growth, from the theoretical and empirical points of view. The most completed theoretical model is Henderson model (1988, 1997, and 1999), which is tested by some empirical studies. As Henderson model shows, the set of national product, specialization and technological progress are the determinants of urban growth. Using this model, the paper investigates the urban growth of Iran over the period 1986-2006. The national product is divided into four groups including agriculture and mining; industry and construction; public, personal and distribution services; and information-based services. The specialized cities are determined based on the last three groups and the Henderson’s theorems are tested for them. Eventually, the effect of each type of specialization is tested on urban growth in Iran. The results demonstrate that specialization has positive effect on urban growth in Iran.