An Evaluation and Prioritization of Social Sustainability in Rural Areas: A Case Study of Villages in Khorrambid County of Fars Province

The conservation of human, natural and socio-economic capital is a main concern in sustainability concept and in the direction of intergenerational equity. In addition, the theoretical framework of sustainability indicates that every planning with a sustainable development approach requires a multi-dimensional presentation of studied case. Social sustainability is rather associated with qualitative aspects, being evaluated by concepts such as human life, the feeling of welfare, and prosperity in social environment. The rural community in Iran is influenced by different policies and trends in recent decades and it has been under extensive changes, but there is some evidence indicating the movement of rural areas towards social unsustainability in particular. The present study applies a geographical approach to the examination of the level of social sustainability, the method of indicators selection, and evaluation of prioritizing and measuring methods among 200 rural households in 14 rural centers located in Khorrambid county in Fars province. The results of measuring and ranking social sustainability in the county, by application of TOPSIS, are consistent with empirical methods.