Analysis of the Smartening Infrastructure Role on the Quality of Life of Suburban Rural Settlements (Case Study: Zabol City, Iran Southeast)

Rural smartening means taking advantage of communication and information tools to provide services to society, which causes an increase in quality of life. This study aimed to investigate the role of smartening infrastructures on the quality of life in suburban areas in Zabol City, southeast of Iran. 

The current research is applied in terms of purpose and survey regarding the nature and method. The data required for the research has been collected by questionnaire. The statistical population includes the residents of the villages in the suburbs of Zabol City (Haji-Abad and Qasim-Abad), and the sample size was 360 people using the Cochran method. SPSS software was used for data analysis. SPSS software and F-SORA and F-KOPRAS models were used for data analysis.

The results showed that there is a significant and positive relationship between the intelligent infrastructure and the quality of life in the rural settlements in the suburbs of Zabol city, in such a way that the human variable and social capital with a direct effect value of 0.121 and an indirect effect value of 0.043, management and politics with a direct effect value 0.133 and the value of indirect effect 0.055, information technology with the value of direct effect 0.124, and the value of indirect effect 0.045 have an impact on improving the quality of life. Also, among the proposed infrastructures, management and politics have the most impact on improving the quality of life in the rural settlements in the suburbs of Zabol City, with a total causal effect of 0.188. In the following, the results of the combined models (F-SORA and F-KOPRAS) showed that the economic, environmental, and social dimensions with scores of 2.320, 70.12, and 70.00 showed more affectability from the smartening infrastructures in suburb settlement in Zabol city.

Improving the quality of life, decreasing living costs, and increasing efficiency will be acquired using smartening infrastructures in the villages of the suburbs.