Investigating the Causes and Consequences of the Formation of Second Homes in Suburbs of Metropolises, Case Study: Mashhad

Problems in metropolises such as traffic, types of pollution, housing situation and the desire to invest in real estate, have led to the desire of city dwellers to settle in urban suburbs and thus the spread of second homes has brought. Numbers of second homes have expanded in the metropolitan suburbs of Mashhad in recent decades, which has economic, socio-cultural, physical and environmental consequences. The purpose of this study is to investigate the causes and consequences of the formation of second homes in the suburbs of the metropolis of Mashhad. The research method in this study is a descriptive- analytical. Data is collected through library and field methods by distributing questionnaires among 320-second homeowners in the 12 villages studied that is obtained by the Cochran formula. In this research, a stratified random sampling method was used. For data analysis, descriptive and inferential statistical methods (one -sample t-test) were used. The results indicate that most of the second homes have been built since the 1380s (the 2000s). Among the main reasons for the expansion of the second homes in the studied area are: (a) spending leisure time, (b) air pollution and urban traffic jams. The one-sample t-test results show that expansion second homes has significant consequences such as land speculation, change of wasteland and agricultural lands in second homes, reducing agricultural-related jobs and expansion of service jobs, the destruction of the rural landscape, the construction of houses with new urban architectural patterns, and contrary to the rural houses, increase the number of rural housing, damage to groundwater resources and increase in villagers' cultural awareness. The formation of second homes, despite the increase in job opportunities, has not had much effect on increasing the income and purchasing power of the villagers. On the other hand, the increase of environmental pollution and reduction of plant and animal species has been of less intensity. Also, the formation of second homes has not had much effect on the increase of facilities and services of villagers.