Rural Ecotourism and Its Role in Sustainable Development of Kandovan Village in Iran

The aim of the present study is to provide a cohesive theoretical framework to reflect upon the nature and explanation of the concept of sustainable design and its fundamental components in relation to specific rural areas. Also, it considers the type of physical changes in rural areas that improves the village performance. They are more popular and less harmful to local environment. If they are executed they will contribute to the achievement of a more sustainable structure of rural areas and natural environments.To achieve this aim, sustainable development and ecotourism issues will be examined. The next step is to get help from the results and to go through the related literature in order to propose a model. It is titled “sustainable place” which provides a theoretical framework that explains the constructing components of a sustainable design for rural areas. In the final step the underlying assumptions and strategies that are related to the subject of research are proposed and the findings are summed up qualitatively on the basis of three constructing components: functional, environmental and experimental-aesthetic. In this direction the paper is benefited from the theories and approaches of eminent scholars in the field of architecture and landscape architecture and urban design.