Monitoring changes in the network of urban settlements in the south region of Iran

The south region of Iran has experienced extensive changes during the past 60 years. This paper aims to monitoring changes in the network of urban settlements in the south region of Iran to determine its balance status. The methodology of the research is based on descriptive-analytical approaches and the required data were collected from the last eight censuses. The cities in the region are classified and then the urban network of the region was examined using different models including the urban primacy indices such as two cities, Ginsberg, Mehta, Moomaw and Alwosabi, Mousavi's supremacy; and the centralization indices including Herfindal, Henderson and balance indices including entropy, coefficient of variation and rank-size rule. The results of urban primacy and centralization indicators shown that that urban primary and concentration rates have decreased in all periods, except for the year 1976. The results of balance indices also revealed that has always increased an imbalance in the spatial distribution of population in the urban network of the region from 1956 to 2016. The results of the rank-size index also indicate a relatively large difference between the actual population and the desirable population and also the domination of primacy on the urban network of the region from 1956 to 2016. Considering that the two main reasons for the imbalance in the urban network of the region are migration from rural to urban areas and the conversion of villages in the center of the district to urban areas of any population size, solutions Planning strategies for regional planning are presented to strengthen the economy and develop job opportunities in rural areas, and as well as amending the law to convert rural to urban, in the form spot of a minimum population criterion for convert rural to urban.