Interpretive-Structural Analysis of Semnan Province Functional System to Identify Production and Reproduction Trends of Poverty

The imbalance in the distribution of spatial developments causes a clear contradiction in the level of development of the center and periphery of the regions. The product of such contradictions is a change in the quality of socio-economic indicators, especially those related to poverty and livelihood. In the provinces of our country, the ruling system has led to the production of poverty in the villages and dilapidated neighborhoods of the city, requiring the recognition of the roots of poverty production and reproduction as well as analyzing and interpreting the governing system. In the present study, the functional system of Semnan Province has been analyzed and interpreted using the ISM model. Thus, after interviewing the experts, environmental scanning, and studying 80-variable library documents, the main components of the functional system were selected, and then with the cooperation of 16 experts in Semnan Provincial issues, the relationships between these variables were analyzed to factors and process of poverty production and reproduction chains in the settlements of this province. The results of the study showed that the problems related to water shortage in the sub-system of "agricultural climate", have had a major contribution to rural poverty. Moreover, the "management and planning" subsystem, which included macro-planning variables and determined system policies, has not played a major role in changing this. Meanwhile, the "urban access and privileges" subsystem has intensified the current situation and has led to the reproduction of rural poverty and the emergence of a cycle of poverty in the province. Finally, it was concluded that the reform of the sub-systems of "agricultural climate" and "urban access and privileges" is the only way to achieve a situation that prevents the production, reproduction, and the cycle of poverty in the rural areas of the province.