Measuring the Quality of Life and City Competitiveness: A Methodological Framework for the Iranian Metropolis

Abstract

Recently competitiveness has become one of the most used concepts in the urban and regional planning literature. This research aims to show the competitive situation of the eight metropolises in Iran based on the quality of life indices. The analytical, descriptive method used in this research to show the facts that are involved in different metropolises. Applying framework, required information gathered from world cities information center (NUMBEO https://www.numbeo.com/). ELECTRE III (ELimination Et Choix Traduisant la REalité, in French) is an effective Multi Criteria Decision Analysis method. The results indicate that important effective factors in population selection of living in the metropolis are commuting time or traffic, the ratio of income to property price and health. Hence, metropolis ranking demonstrates that in terms of quality of life Shiraz placed on the first level and Ahwaz at the last level. Isfahan, Qom, Tabriz, Mashhad, Tehran, and Karaj respectively ranked from second to seventh. Tehran as the capital city with the highest population concentration does not have enough competitive power against other metropolises and for entering into the international system require deliberate attention to the effective factors of quality of life. In addition, the results show the application of the framework in measuring metropolis competitiveness based on the quality of life is very important and competitive can promote sustainability, adaptability, and quality of planning.