The need to identify villages with developmental capacity in the planning process (Case study: Bijar county)

Reducing the share of the country's rural population and reducing the number of villages over the past decades, have raised fundamental questions about the future and the position of the village in the national planning system, also the settlement system. In the earlier period, villages had a large share of the country's domicile; but with the transformation of the livelihood and economic system, resulting from the growth of capitalist relations and the transformation of many human-space relations, the capacity to reside and activity was dramatically concentrated in the cities. Considering the value and socio-economic status of the village in the previous and current form of the Iranian society, the necessity to pay attention to the sustainability and preservation of the rural population, has always been one of the regional and national planning and management concerns. In this regard, the question is that while most of the country's villages are faced with population decline, what are the characteristics of the villages possessing the capacity to maintain and preserve the population? This research is designed to answer this question, using descriptive-analytical methods, based on secondary data analysis. Required information was extracted based on library studies and statistical publications of the Statistical Center of Iran, then statistical analysis has been performed. Results and innovation: In this research, through reviewing the demographic evolutions and services and conditions of all rural areas of Bijar city in different statistical periods, we have paid to the correlation of the differences between rural areas. Results of the research show that, despite the apparent conception of the development and provision of services and infrastructures, the mere existence or absence of services cannot be considered as a major factor in maintaining rural populations, but also other factors such as access to urban centers, agricultural conditions and ability, also the village position as a central location, have significant impact o n this trend. In this process, in the sample of Bijar city, only three points (Zaynl Khan, Azaghaj and Sidan balls) show population increase; and few population points with the potential to keep the population, have been turned into a city, the factor which has accelerated the decline in rural population in the county.