Rurbanism and Environmental Disaster Case study: Robat-Karim

The metropolitans of Iran have been undergone rapid expansion due to the immigration from the rural areas to urban centers. The process of the metropolitan growth caused attracting population of villages surrounding urban centers, which, leads to creation of "new domains" with lack regular spatial features. It has neither urban characteristic nor rural typical features. This aspect called rurbanism. Rurbanism leads to expansion of environmental, social and economic crisis. This research is going to investigate the process of "rurbanism" & its consequences. These consequences considered environmental crisis including: Qualitative & quantitative crisis of water, degradation of green spaces & agriculture lands and creating socio-economic insecurity. Robat-Karim is the study area of this research located in south-west of Tehran. Data collected via observation of local community and field study, interview to members of Islamic rural councils, filling questionnaire in selected villages & rural health centers & some available documents. Findings were analyzed by means of comparative study, descriptive statistic and statistical tests (regression, Friedman method, T-student & Likert method). Findings shows that in concentrated political & socio economic systems, national metropolitan attract immigrants from all over the country. These cities, due to job vacancies & presenting services, that are attractive for immigrated people. Because of hare metropolitan high price of land & housing and also progressive transportation, low income people settled in surrounding villages. Presenting poor services decaying quality of life & natural jeopardy (bio-environmental & water crisis), economic insecurity (jobless & poverty concentration) & socio-insecurity (social anomaly) emerge as environmental crisis.