New Geopolitics Research

New Geopolitics Research

Investigating the Indicators of Actor Relations in the Metropolis of Isfahan from a Geopolitical Perspective

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Ahmad Hajarian
Corresponding author; Postdoc, Department of Geography and Rural Planning, Faculty of Geographical Sciences and Planning, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.
10.22034/nrpg.2.1.7
Abstract
Improving the quality of urban life in the city of Isfahan is affected by various factors that exist in the city space. Among these factors, geopolitical indicators in the city of Isfahan have become the basis for the formation of many actors, each of which affects the city space in some way with the leverage it has. Therefore, in order to enter into power relations in the city space of Isfahan, actors need to have access to indicators of power relations. Thus, the present study seeks to answer the question, addressing the role power relations have played in the metropolis of Isfahan. In this regard, the question was raised as follows: Which elements of power relations are more important in the studied area? And which element, from among the elements of human factors, natural factors, artificial factors, and combined factors is more important? The data was collected through documentary sources and fieldwork. Documentary methods were used to extract indicators of power relations and express research literature. Also, field methods were used to collect data required to examine the indicators. The sampling method for the sample population of specialists and experts was snowball and for the sample population of urban managers, simple random sampling was used. The findings with Tukey's post hoc test indicate that there was a significant difference among the indicators and measures of power relations. In this regard, the indicators of centrality of organizations, institutions and companies (artificial factors), the economic centrality index (combined factors), active political-social participation of citizens (human factors) and the size and quality of space (natural factors) are of the greatest importance.
Keywords
Isfahan metropolis
political geography of the city
urban geopolitics
power relations
effective indicators
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New Geopolitics Research
Volume 2, Issue 1 - Serial Number 3
September 2025
Pages 129-142