Evaluation of the Rural Relocation Plans from Environmental, Ecologic, Spatial and Functional Perspective; Case studies: Eslamieh and Andisheh Villages - Ilam Province

In the course of history, movement of rural homes was a common phenomenon. This phenomenon had several reasons such as natural disasters, provision of better natural resources, war, development projects, etc. Allocation of the new habitat was a vital decision and a critical step in the process of relocation due to its long term affects the lifestyle and livelihood of the inhabitants. Former experiences showed that inappropriate human settlement planning and provision has led to the failure of several relocation plans in the national scale. However, there are guidelines for relocation planners and officials to consider crucial factors and planning criteria. Among them the reduction of vulnerability, proximity to facilities and infrastructures, accessibility as well as favorable topography for construction and ecological capacity are noteworthy. This also includes operational factors for relocating rural settlements such as distance from natural resources, land provision, geographical orientation, percentage of slope, etc. Eslamieh and Andisheh as suburban villages of Sirvan and Eiyvan Cities had several physical and hygiene issues. They were also faced with topographical limitation for expansion due to nearby dam construction and as a result have been relocated into new locations within Ilam province.
The purpose of this descriptive-analytical study is to evaluate the rural relocation plans based on the environmental, ecological, spatial, and performance criteria through Model of McHarg. The main criteria include climate, landform, geology, water resources, and infrastructures. The findings revealed that considering several criteria, the villages are in appropriate and semi-appropriate conditions. However, the results also showed that Eslamieh could be assessed inappropriate from the perspective of slope percentage and Andisheh from the perspective of fertile agricultural lands. In total, since residential fabric relatively has most of the criteria passed, it can be concluded that the relocation plans of these villages could be considered successful. Finally, some practical suggestions were proposed for promoting living conditions in these villages regarding the discussed criteria.