On The Regional Analysis of the Spatial Regulation of Cities in the Zagros Region with an Approach of Objective and Subjective Regions

Looking at the regional plans in Iran shows that the results of these plans have not been profitable in order to balance the urban system and creating a hierarchy of settlement. In the previous studies, the regions were defined based on the political and administrative boundaries. As a result, the quantitative models used have non help to improve the urban systems problems. Thus, the main objective of this study is to explain the true concept of region from two points of view (Objective and Subjective views) and true utility of quantitative models in regional planning. In this regard, the Zagros region (including five provinces: Kermanshah, Kurdistan, Hamadan, Lorestan and Elam) and also Kermanshah province were selected as a subjective and objective regions, respectively. The research method of this paper was comparative study and the results of using quantitative models (the Quantitative Indexes of Determining the Primate City and also, the Herfindahl concentration index, Gini Coefficient, and Coefficient of Variation) in the two mentioned regions were compared. The results showed that the urban system in the Zagros region has relative balance compared to Kermanshah province. By analyzing the findings, the approach to this paper is that the concept of the region should be considered in terms of cultural, economic, social, and geographic points of view in order to balance the system of urban settlements and decentralize population, services and facilities. So, we do not summarize this concept on the political and administrative boundaries.