DEA Approach in Measuring of Cities Efficiency in Terms of Urban Services Distribution in Ardebil Province

As a result of excellence and evolution of human knowledge, the concept of efficiency has developed and its evaluation has become possible according to different theories. Utilities is a tool in management of urban development and a major factor in the continuity of urban life without which lives of citizens lose activeness and reduction in its efficiency causes reduced welfare of citizens. In fact, following the extension of cities and the growth of urban population, demand to use utilities also increases which makes the observation of the consistency among efficient components of urban development and utilities inevitable. The present study aims to assess the consistency among present utilities and important spatial and socio-economic components in towns of Ardabil Province in the form of relative efficiency. For the analysis purpose, Data Envelopment Analysis (classic) based on goal programming (for a goal-seeking view and more separation of efficiencies) are employed. Results show that the (relative) efficiency of 11 cities are based on CCR-O Model and the efficiency of 15 cities follow BCC-O Model. Among towns of Ardabil Province, only Germi Town suffers from intense scale efficiency that indicates that this town does not operate in its optimal scale. Finally, it can be inferred that according to the conducted analyses and goal seeking view of DEA, Sarein and Jafarabad have the highest (relative) efficiency among towns of Ardabil Province.