Assessment of Development in Rural Areas, With an Emphasis on Some Social-Cultural Indicators

Lack of proper attention to rural areas in recent decades, creating spatial imbalance and rectifying the flow of services, capital and population towards urban centers not only has encountered rural settlements with a maximum range of poverty and inequality but also has necessitated further Spatial planning in rural areas. Therefore, this study with the aim of evaluating the rural development which was conducted in the counties of Khorasan Razavi province, is an applied research that utilizes fuzzy multiple attribute decision making procedures. The research is descriptive-analytic and method of data collection is in library routine, and tool of data collection according to the research objectives has been selected based on current population and housing census statistics )in particular the Statistical Yearbook of 2011 Khorasan Razavi Province). The statistical population consists of whole the rural districts in Khorasan Razavi Province, that to assess the level of their development, 48 components in the form of development indicators were extracted from official statistics of Khorasan Razavi province and evaluated using fuzzy VIKOR. The findings of research analysis outlining a regional spatial inequality in rural areas and unfair allocation of resources and rural services, showed that overall the indicators, Counties of Roshtkhar, Khalil Abad and Kashmar have the highest rate of development and counties Bajestan, Sarakhs and Mahvelayat have the lowest rural development. In the end, to eliminate regional imbalances and to establish social justice in rural areas of Khorasan Razavi Province, practical proposals were presented.