فصلنامه روستا و توسعه
سال بیست و دوم شماره 2 (پیاپی 86، تابستان 1398)

Feeling of security in rural and urban areas is one of the most important indicators of quality space. Due to the difference of places in terms of crime, one must never neglect the role and influence of environmental factors. This study aimed at investigating the role of physical design in rural people's feeling of security. The research method was a descriptive-analytical one and the required data were collected through questionnaires, interviews and observations and documents. The statistical population included the rural people of Buin-Zahra County of Iran; and among them, 225 people were selected in a random sampling method. For data analysis, both descriptive statistics (mean, frequency) and inferential statistics (correlation coefficient, one-sample t-test, ANOVA) were used. Results of the t-test showed that honor security and criminal security were moderate and the financial and social security was found to be undesirable. Results of the correlation analysis indicated negative correlations between the feeling of security and the variables including quality of defensible spaces, brightness, quality of rural streets and rural furniture.

To achieve success, rural cooperatives should know their current conditions, predict their future, and react appropriately to environmental changes. Therefore, they are required to evaluate their performance carefully. In this regard, balanced scorecard technique evaluates the cooperative from four different perspectives including financial, customers, internal process, and learning and growth perspectives as well as their relationships. In this research, the performance of Piraqoum Rural Cooperative in Ardabil province of Iran was evaluated using the balanced scorecard (BSC) technique. The statistical population included all shareholders of the concerned cooperative and its board of directors. The study results indicated that all four perspectives had performed successfully in the studied cooperative, among which the learning and growth perspective with the mean value of 4.77 had the highest rank.

This descriptive survey study aimed at investigating the final domestic waste disposal behaviors of rural women as well as the factors affecting their behaviors. The statistical population included all the rural households in Qazvin County of Iran (n=31338) and 247 of them were selected as the sample, based on Cochran sampling formula in a multi-stage random sampling method. The research tool was a questionnaire, the validity of which was confirmed by the concerned experts. A pilot test was conducted to determine the reliability of the questionnaire. Calculated Cronbach's alpha was higher than 0.7 for different parts. The study results showed that the rural women had 10 different waste disposal behaviors. Also, Kruskal-Wallis test revealed that knowledge, social participation, environmental responsibility, social trust, social status, social cohesion, satisfaction, age, income, and education levels affected the final domestic waste disposal behaviors of the rural women.

Agricultural ecotourism tends to be a responsibility-based journey to natural and agricultural areas, their protect and the improvement of the lives of local people; in addition, paying attention to the natural and cultural capacities of villages plays an important role in revival of villages as well as creating employment and income for the rural people, protecting natural, historical and cultural heritage and ultimately, realizing an integrated and sustainable rural development. This study aimed at investigating the effects of agricultural ecotourism on economic, social and environmental development in rural areas of Sistan in Iran. It was a descriptive research, the data of which were surveyed through questionnaires and interviews. The statistical population included all the households and related experts in places with ecotourism capacity in the region, by distributing the questionnaires in a systematic sampling method. Validity of the questionnaire was calculated using experts' opinions and reliability of the instrument was calculated using Cronbach's alpha within the range of 0.742-0.953. The study results showed that the agricultural ecotourism improved the social, economic and environmental indicators as well as the quality of life in the region.

Relocation project of Roudbar village of Behshahr County in Iran was implemented in 2009, due to the construction of Gelevard dam and the risk of flooding. It had many consequences for the rural people. Considering the importance of research, this study aimed at exploring these rural people's problems of the relocation. It was conducted in a census method through questionnaire (n=92), the validity and reliability of which were confirmed by faculty members of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Department and then, using Cronbach's alpha measurement (α=0.89). Results of the exploratory factor analysis showed that lack of physical-infrastructural considerations, environmental non-compliance in the construction of the new village, poor social performance of new settlements, change in access to important areas, problems related to the economic situation of the rural households, poor residential performance of the new settlements were the most important problems, estimating by 52.46 percent of the cumulative variance.

Markets have been the places where earliest human communities have formed based on essential social needs. This survey evaluated and explained the function of weekly street markets in improvement of qualitative indexes of life and conditions of livelihood in the rural families. It was an applied study in terms of objective, and a descriptive-analytical and survey study in terms of methodology. On this basis, different questions were prepared in different measuring scales (names, orders, and relative scales) within questionnaires. The statistical population included the household heads settled in the villages that had weekly street markets in three sub-districts of the studied region. In order to analyze and measure the data, correlation analysis tests such as Chi-Square and Phi-Cramer as well as mean value comparison tests of Freidman and Kruskal Wallis were used. The study results showed that there was a significant relationship at a confidence level of 99 percent between formation and establishment of the weekly street markets in some of the villages and the improvement of economic and social indexes such as entrepreneurship, income increase, job variety, reduction of expenses, and increase in motivation to stay in the villages. In addition, the results from Freidman and Kruskal Wallis tests on the comparison of physical development indexes in different villages showed that establishment of the weekly markets had significant differences in improvement and elevation of some physical factors; accordingly, to an acceptable extent, improvement of physical situations in the villages depended on the formation of markets in the studied rural areas.

The local market plays an important role in rural development, given that it is a place to meet the economic needs of rural and urban people, based on the supply of rural products. This research aimed at investigating the role of local markets in the economic prosperity of the rural people in Guilan province of Iran by identifying and ranking the economic components. It was a descriptive study in terms of the purpose and a field-based in terms of data collection. In this regard, 195 samples of dealers in 77 local markets in Guilan province were selected by cluster random sampling method and data were collected through a questionnaire. Using the structural equation modeling (SEM) method, the estimated measurement model was first measured using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for reliability and validity testing of the model; and in the second step, the structural model for the proportionality test of overall model was investigated. The study results showed that the local market development had a positive effect on the components of economic prosperity including increase in production, income, employment and diversity, and the prices of products, and the determination of the path coefficient in creating economic prosperity was equal to 0.73.