Investigation of Elements and Factors Affecting Sustainable Rural Housing in Mountainous Area (Case Study: Rural Settlements in Varzeqan and Harris County of East Azerbaijan Province)

Rapid design and reconstruction after natural disasters and rapid changes in materials and construction technology are among the factors that play a role in the disruption in the stability of the country's rural environment and also leads to the loss of rural architectural identity. And the factors affecting sustainable rural housing in the mountains. The present research method is descriptive-analytical and survey type. The statistical population of the study is the population of 20 villages equal to 6289 from Varzeqan and Harris counties. The sample size included 322 people obtained from Cochran's formula. The sampling method is simple random. Cronbach's alpha was used to evaluate the reliability of the questionnaire. To test the research questions, first the normality of the data was examined using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and after confirming the normality of the data, the second-order confirmatory factor analysis was used. Calculations were performed in SPSS and Amos software.Based on the findings, the good fit index (GFI) is 0.915, which indicates the acceptability of this rate for optimal fit of the model. The root mean square of the estimation error (RMSEA) is 0.065, which is acceptable due to being smaller than 0.08 and indicates the confirmation of the research model. Also Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) 0.906; The adaptive fit index (CFI) is 0.903 and the normalized fit index (PNFI) is 0.71, all of which indicate the desired fit and approval of the research model. The results show that physical, environmental, economic and social factors in the region are effective in the sustainability of rural housing and among these factors; Physical index had the greatest impact on the stability of rural housing with a factor load of 0.92. The social index has the least impact on the sustainability of rural housing with a factor load of 0.81.