Journal of Research and Rural Planning
Volume:11 Issue: 3, Summer 2022

Health is one of the main axes of sustainable development and has a main role in flourishing and improving the quality of life. Housing, as an important factor can have a direct impact on human health. The purpose of this study is to investigate the climatic elements on rural housing and their impact on the health of villagers.

This research is a descriptive cross-sectional study of the housing health status of 1150 households in 2020 which was done by a library research method (statistical data of Sarvabad city health center) and a field study method (interview and questionnaire). The studied index of climatic factors includes four elements of radiation, heat, humidity and wind, which have the greatest impact on the housing of villagers.

Field surveys in Pirshalyar district showed that more than 67% of mountainous settlements are south-west. 23% of other settlements are located in the north, east and west. Sunlight illuminates only 20 to 25 percent of the home space. Villagers usually thicken the walls to withstand the temperature (heat and cold). Also, it was shown that the average diameter of dry walls is between 100 and 75 cm. The results showed that 89% of the first-floor residential units are wet and damp. Wind flow in some seasons causes the spread of germs and parasites in the villages.

Unproductive activities refer to economic activities which do not have a positive effect on GDP, but have high profit and returns, which can eliminate productive activities. This is a phenomenon that has occurred in Iran in the last three decades. The aim of the present study is to analyze the factors causing and spreading unproductive activities using Fumanat area as the context.

The study area is Fumanat, one of the historical regions of Gilan. The type of research is qualitative. In order to collect the required data and information, we conducted the various steps: First, using secondary data, the study illustrated changes in the share of employment in the economic sectors of the region, changes in the area of agricultural land use, as well as changes in the level of built land use. Second, conducting interviews with different business owners of each household, the common activities of households were studied to determine the evolution of productive activities in the sample villages. The common activities of households and among them unproductive activities were identified by inductive method. In order to understand the factors affecting the creation and expansion of unproductive activities, the qualitative approach of grounded theory was used.

The study indicates that in the mountain zone, 39.1 percent of jobs, in the foothill zone, 32.3 percent of jobs, in the plain zone, 41.9 percent of jobs and in the coastal zone, 30.2 percent of jobs, can be categorized as unproductive activities. The existence of uncertainty, lack of support for productive activities, the property rights issue, inadequate privatization and dysfunctional institution system affect the expansion of unproductive activities in the region.

Various studies have examined productive and unproductive sides in economic endeavors, most of which considered them with a macro point of view. The present study tries to investigate the contextually of the factors underlying these changes in a rural space and community.

since governance has a direct and close relation to democracy and socio-economic development everywhere, and it is considered to be the main discussion of the discourse of sustainable rural development, the purpose of the present study is to examine the position of governance indicators in rural areas of Abarkooh town and its impact on the villagers' higher participation.

the present research has been conducted using a descriptive-analytical method and the data were obtained through survey methods. The statistical population of this study were rural district governors, members of Islamic councils and residents of Abarkooh town. Chi-square test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Pearson correlation coefficient and regression coefficient were used to analyze the data.

Research findings:

 the results indicate that the villagers had the highest participation of villagers is in manpower and participation in land donation is in the second place and financial aids is in the last place due to the weak financial strength of the villagers. According to the results of the T-test, the scores of the items related to the indicators of rural governance in Abarkooh town are at a desired level and the highest values belong to social trust and social justice indicators and the lowest value belongs to rule of law indicator. The results of Wilcoxon test show that, the impact of feasibility of governance indicators on public participation in this area has been at a high level. Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis were used to examine each of the governance indicators "transparency and accountability, efficiency and effectiveness, social justice, awareness, social trust, rule of law, acceptance of participation" as independent variables on villagers' participation in the dimensions of "manpower, financial assistance, land donation, (which were aggregated) as dependent variables and determine the effect of each of these dimensions. The correlation test value equal to 0.712 shows a significant, positive and direct relationship between independent and dependent variables of the present research. The modified determination coefficient indicates that, 69.4% changes in villagers' participation level is related to feasibility of principles of governance in the study area; therefore, holding meetings for rural people, rural district governors and members of councils for more interaction and informing people about their rights, clarification of financial and income issues and identification of capabilities of human society can play an essential role in feasibility of this matter.

Purpose:

 Since the development of entrepreneurial activities in rural areas reduces many initial costs, and because the agricultural production is centered in rural areas, agricultural graduates can make closer and easier relationships with beneficiaries. Therefore, the current research was conducted aimed at analyzing the rural entrepreneurial intentions of agricultural students of Hamadan University based on the extended theory of planned behavior. 

Design/methodology/implications:

 The population of the study were all senior agricultural students of Bu Ali Sina University, Hamadan (N = 420). The simple random sampling method and Krejcie and Morgan table were used respectively to sample the research population and to determine the sample size (n = 200). A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data. The face and content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts. To verify the reliability of the research tool, a pilot study and the calculation of the ordinal theta coefficient were also conducted.

Findings: 

The results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed that the indicators used to measure the latent attributes studied in this research are consistent with the factor structure and the theoretical basis of the research. The results showed that three main components of TPB (attitude, perceived behavioral control and social norms) had a positive and significant effect on rural entrepreneurial intentions of students, which predicts 51% of the variance of rural entrepreneurial intentions. In addition, adding six entrepreneurial skills to the model, the predictive power of TPB increased by 19%. 

Research limitations/implications:

One of the most important limitations was the accurate assessment of the entrepreneurial skills. Practical implications- Considering the interaction of motivational and skill components, it can be inferred that students’ confidence in their entrepreneurial abilities and skills in order to launch and manage a new business gives them the power to have creative intentions and decisions to start a new activity .

This study contributed to integrate skills and behavioral components for improving the rural entrepreneurial intentions of agricultural students. The results contribute to enriching the literature on rural entrepreneurial intention. This study documents the entrepreneurial intention and skills as important precursors to students’ decision to create new agricultural business.

Leisure is influential in shaping social identity and helpful for social growth, which occurs in legal and illegal ways. The illegal form is a behavior that is out of control and causes irreversible damage to individuals and their families. Therefore, investigating the role of illegal leisure time (gambling and betting games) is necessary to improve the quality of social life, especially for rural households. To this end, this study aims to investigate the role of illegal leisure time, particularly gambling, on the social conditions of rural households.

This research is descriptive-analytical in terms of its aim and method. The data collection tools are questionnaires and interviews from a sample of 362 households. The statistical population is rural households, both involved and uninvolved, in Varza Jang (an animal fight tournament) located in Kuchesfahan District, Belesbeneh Rural District (N = 5819). A sample group was selected using Cochran’s Formula and Quota sampling. In addition, a one-sample t-test, Friedman rank test and path analysis were used to analyze the data.

The results of the t-test showed that in the component of social anomalies, the indicator of violence and tension in the family with an average of 3.86 had the highest, and the indicator of suicide with an average of 1.39 had the lowest social effects on the studied rural households. Also, in the component of family and individual abnormalities and problems, the stress indicator in children with an average of 3.91 had the highest, and the indicator of family separation and divorce with an average of 2.89 had the lowest average affecting the social effects of the respondents. Also, the results of the path analysis showed that betting and gambling were effective on all indicators of the two components of social anomalies and individual anomalies.

For this reason, gambling significantly impacts children's stress, violence, tension and divorce in families.

Nowadays, the smart growth approach plays a significant role in sustainable rural development. This approach seeks to improve the quality of human life and respond to socio-economic, environmental and physical problems and issues and can pave the way for rural management in order to make optimal use of facilities and solve rural problems. The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the drivers of the effect of smart growth approach on sustainable development of rural settlements in Jiroft County.

This study is applied research and it is descriptive-analytical in terms of nature. Data has been collected through documentary and field study. To extract the key drivers of the effect of smart growth approach on sustainable development of rural settlements in Jiroft county, a questionnaire has been prepared in the form of a Micmac questionnaire and distributed and completed among the sample community. 36 questionnaires were considered for rural experts, relevant organizations. The data analysis and structural analysis of the effect of smart growth approach indicators on the sustainable development of rural settlements were conducted using Micmac software.

The results showed that among the 57 studied factors, 14 key effective drivers were identified that according to the high score of direct and indirect effect, factors such as utilizing existing infrastructure to increase villagers' employment and income, (direct (+10) indirect (+7205), improving land and housing prices in rural areas, direct (+9) indirect (+6959), villagers' satisfaction of increasing rural relations with outside (city and other villages), direct (+8) indirect (+8356) have the most effect compared to other drivers.