Analyzing and Interpreting the Effects of the of Borrowed Size Concept on the Development of Small Towns (Case Study of Bahnamir)

Abstract

In recent years, some researchers have used the concept of "Borrowed size" as a justification for the efficiency of small and medium-sized cities in Poly-centric urban regions. They believe that smaller cities located near or within an integrated functional urban area can take advantage of the population, facilities, and amenities of larger cities while avoiding the agglomeration costs of larger cities such as traffic, high housing prices, and congestion. In this regard, the present article tries to use this concept, in addition to explaining the growth of the furniture industry in the city of Bahnamir, to open the way for its application in urban and regional policies. For this purpose, the applicability of this concept in Bahnamir was measured in four phases: first, specialization and concentration using locational coefficient and firm density, second, a geographical overlap of demand market by connectivity field index, third measurement polycentricity using Green indicator and entropy of daily travel flow data, and finally, the balance between agglomeration economies and diseconomies using Correspondence analysis. Findings show that the city has been able to access the market demand of larger and coastal cities, lower production costs due to cheap land prices, land ownership and cheaper labor, and increasing returns become into a specialized furniture market that achieves better performance than larger cities by increasing competition, lowering prices, diversity and competition. In this regard, it is suggested that this concept could be used as support to reconsider the development role of small and medium-sized cities.

Keywords

• borrowed size
• agglomeration economies
• small cities
• bahnamir