An examination of the effect of Aras’s Free Zoon project on social welfare of the local community from dwellers’ point of view

The creation of free trade zones in the specific regions of the country is one of the plans and initiatives that are often undertaken by the states to develop the region and improve its people social welfare. In Iran, in recent decades, these projects have been implemented in different regions of the country, which Aras Free Zone is one of these projects. Although significant controversies have been made on the impacts of these areas, which have often been referred to ineffectively, less research has been done, especially on the area under study regarding welfare indicators. Hence, this research inspired by Ferguson's notion that developmental plans would unintentionally lead to changes that were neither quite positive nor negative, and using the comparative method examines the outcomes of the Aras Free Zone on indicators Social welfare in this region. The findings show that although the Aras Free Zone, like other free zones of Iran, has not achieved its goals in general, its effects in various welfare indicators have not been the same. For example, in such indicators as health care, education, employment status has had some positive effects. Nevertheless, in other indicators such as social security and the need for supportive organizations and the economic situation (economic welfare), it has almost neutral effects. Simultaneously, in some indicators, such as housing conditions and Housing costs have had very negative effects. Similarly, it often leads to the formation of reverse immigration and the rise of strangers in the Aras commercial-industrial free zone.