The strategy of intermediate cities and its role in development and regional balance is among
paradigms affecting spatial and regional development having been presented in the economy of
the third world since 1970. Neglecting the role of intermediate cities and tending to
centralization in one or several limited regions have resulted in engendering challenges such as
polar spatial structures and the severe imbalances in the regional system of developing countries
and consequently Iran. The objective of the present study is to investigate the effect of the
Intermediate City of Maragheh in the economic structure of East Azerbaijan Province and
evaluating the performance of this city in the surrounding region and its own influencing area.
The research method was a descriptive-analytical one and for evaluating and analyzing the role
and function of this city, statistical models and economic analyses of the region such as ShiftShare
Model, Spatial coefficient, etc. were sued. The results obtained for the population model
indicate that this city, due to having positive and high elasticity in attracting the population of the
region, has a significant effect on balancing and distributing population equally in East
Azerbaijan Province. In addition, the results obtained from Shift-Share models and the spatial
coefficient indicate the powerful and effective role of this city in eliminating the economic
imbalance of the region and indicate that the high degree of average development of the threesections of economy in this city has resulted in the increase in the degree of regional
development and growth; therefore, this city has been able to have effective role in integrating
spatial development of the regional system and in development of economic conditions of whole
East Azerbaijan Province by taking the ultra-regional role and presenting favorable performance
in the field of industry, service, and agricultural sections.