Measurement and Spatial Analysis of Rural Development Level in Hamedan Province

The present study aimed to determine and spatial analysis of rural development level in rural districts of Hamedan province by using MCDM techniques. To assess the development level of rural districts, 53 indexes were defined in eight groups: demographic, infrastructure, education, health, communication, services, administrative and economic. The weight of indexes was determined using AHP, entropy methods and combining the results of these two methods. Then, the development levels of the rural districts were determined through such techniques as TOPSIS, SAW and numerical taxonomy. The final ranking of rural districts was undertaken by integration of the results of these techniques using mean ranking, Borda and Copeland methods. The rural districts were ranked according to the final results and were classified using GIS software. According to the attained results, Mohajeran, Alvand Koh gharbi and Green were ranked as the most developed rural areas and additionally, Gian, Komazan Sofla and Goltapeh were ranked as the most underdeveloped rural areas in Hamedan province. The rural districts of Hamedan province are very different from each other and there exist many inequalities in them in terms of development level and also, the distribution of facilities and services have not been performed across the rural districts according to spatial justice in such a manner that most of the underdeveloped rural districts are located far away from the city centers of townships and the capital of Hamedan and do not enjoy the benefits of development.