نشریه روستا و توسعه پایدار فضا
سال چهارم شماره 1 (پیاپی 13، بهار 1402)

The role of rural mayors, as village managers, in rural construction and physical development is one of the most important issues that may cause irreparable damage to rural plans if it is ignored. Therefore, paying attention to rural municipalities and their role in achieving the physical goals of rural areas is of great importance. This study tried to play a role in rural development by identifying the key drivers affecting the supervision of rural mayors over rural construction. The research is an applied, descriptive-analytical one. The statistical population of the study was the villages having 5th and 6th class rural municipalities in Tuyserkan County, which amounted to 16 villages. In order to identify the key drivers affecting the supervision of rural mayors over rural construction in future (the next ten years), 25 questionnaires were completed by experts of Governor’s Office, experts District Governor’s Office, and Housing Foundation as well as rural mayors and analyzed using MICMAC cross-impact matrix. The results showed that due to the high score of direct and indirect effect, 13 factors, classified under 6 main groups, were identified as key drivers influencing the supervision of rural mayors over rural construction over 2031 horizon in Tuyserkan County. The most important factors included observance of public rights in construction, observance of energy efficiency and infrastructure, attention to specialization and architecture in construction, and attention to the process of obtaining construction permit. In order to improve the supervision of rural mayors over rural construction, the following activities are suggested: providing information about construction laws, training rural mayors, implementing appropriate laws, and asking local experts to help rural mayors.

The present research has been carried out to explain economic development strategies in the villages of Rasht County. The research is an applied, descriptive-analytical one. To analyze the data, SWOT, AHP, and SPSS software were used. After identifying and ranking the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the villages of Rasht County, with an emphasis on economic development, solutions were offered. The results showed that among the strategies introduced, the following ones played a more important role in predicting positive changes in the dependent variable, i.e. economic development: (1) emphasizing local capabilities and creating jobs for the people living in the surrounding villages to reduce social inequalities (abbreviated to SO2), as a competitive strategy, (2) creating incentives to increase agricultural products and activities instead of establishing city-related industries (abbreviated to ST5), as a diversification strategy, (3) developing small businesses among rural women (abbreviated to WO6), as a revisiting strategy, and (4) supporting villagers by low-interest loans in order to create and develop small rural businesses (abbreviated to WT2), as a defensive strategy. The results of the path analysis showed that the following strategies have the greatest direct impact on the economic development of Rasht villages: (1) establishing agricultural transformation industries in the area under study, considering the non-creation of environmental pollution and the agreement made by experts and local-governmental managers (abbreviated to SO1), as a competitive strategy, (2) creating incentives to increase agricultural products and activities instead of establishing city-related industries (abbreviated to ST5), as a diversification strategy, (3) developing new production skills (abbreviated to WO2), as a revisiting strategy, and (4) supporting villagers by low-interest loans in order to create and develop small rural businesses (abbreviated to WT2), as a defensive strategy.

Agricultural marketing starts from production planning and continues to the last step after harvest, i.e. selling and gaining customer satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to identify factors developing tobacco marketing, considering the specialization of tobacco cultivation in Boghmach Rural District, Chenaran County. The research is a descriptive-analytical one. The statistical population of the study were tobacco producers and market agents in Boghmach. Based on Cochran’s Formula, 110 people were selected as the sample. Through extensive documentary and field studies, 29 factors were identified as promoting tobacco marketing in Boghmach and then surveyed using a five-point Likert scale questionnaire. The identified factors were categorized under 9 main components (with 72.5% of the total variance), using exploratory factor analysis. These components include, respectively, high capability of tobacco producers (14.6% of the variance), ending the monopoly of tobacco company (11.8% of the variance), specialization in cultivation, production and processing of tobacco (10.9% of the variance), existence of foreign market suitable for tobacco (8.5% of the variance), existence of domestic market suitable for tobacco (6.5% of the variance), tobacco processing at the origin (5.8% of the variance), relative agency of tobacco producers in the market (5.5% of the variance), government supervision over tobacco market (4.7% of the variance), and the capacity required to expand tobacco activity (3.7% of the variance). The results of Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) showed that, in terms of tobacco marketing, Boghmach is the main center for tobacco production in Chenaran and Razavi Khorasan Province, and it is the starting point of tobacco marketing in the province. Considering the production of 80% of Razavi Khorasan tobacco in Boghmach and the specialization of cultivation, it is suggested that appropriate planning be done for better marketing in the country and abroad based on the factors identified.

Based on sustainable livelihood approach, livelihood foundations form the basis of villagers’ ability and power to interfere in their individual and social destiny because they determine and direct the perception, expectations and activities of individuals and families living in rural areas. According to the theory of sustainable livelihood, to end livelihood crises, methods such as tourism development should be adopted in rural areas. But in the present era, it is rural electronic tourism that accelerates and promotes the achievement of economic, social and environmental goals of sustainable rural development. The current research aimed to investigate and analyze the status of livelihood foundations, the e-tourism project, and villagers’ insight in the villages under study. The research is an applied, mixed (quantitative-qualitative) one. The data were collected through documentary studies (books, articles, and statistics) and field research (questionnaires and interviews). Sixteen indicators and 78 variables involved in the formation of livelihood capital were identified and based on them, a Likert-scale questionnaire was developed and given to the research sample (311 households). In the qualitative phase, phenomenological approach was used for sampling, then, in-depth interviews were conducted with 36 villagers until theoretical saturation. To analyze the data, SPSS, Excel, MAXQDA and ArcGIS software were used. In the quantitative phase, using TOPSIS model, in the first step, it was found that natural and social capitals had a favorable status compared to other assets. In the second step, the status of livelihood foundations in the villages was examined separately, based on which Shahrebijar, Shirkoh, and Halimejan were ranked first to third with coefficients of 0.654, 0.546, and 0.526, respectively. In the next step and in the qualitative phase, the villagers interpret their understanding of electronic tourism as visiting, advertising and marketing, online shopping, eliminating middlemen and new businesses. Furthermore, based on the surveys, it was found that the villagers with less livelihood capitals have a different vision than the villagers having livelihood capitals.

Rural economy, as one of the most basic aspects of rural existence, has long been associated with agriculture and agricultural activities, so that the agricultural sector is very important in terms of employment and income for households. Hence, it can play an important role in reducing poverty and especially strengthening sustainable rural livelihoods. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the sustainable livelihood of rural households in Rustaq rural district. This research has been done by descriptive-analytical method. For this purpose, first, in addition to documentary and field studies, a wide range of indicators were determined. Then, data collection was performed based on selected indicators and using a household questionnaire. In this regard, the role of the agricultural sector in 337 households living in the villages of Rustaq district was studied. The validity of the questionnaire was examined by experts and the validity coefficient of the questionnaire was equal to 0.85. Shannon and Coopras entropy weight models and Spss software were used for data analysis as well as statistical and spatial analysis. The results showed that among the studied dimensions, economic dimension (15.144) and social dimension with an average (12.102) have the first and second ranks in improving sustainable livelihood. Using the Coopers model, among the studied villages, Niqab village with a degree of importance (100) had a better level of sustainable living than other villages. The results of the research indicate that, with 99% certainty, it can be said that the amount of factors affecting the sustainable livelihood of rural households in these dimensions (economic, social, physical, human and environmental) is different in the villages of the study area.

Rural economy, as one of the most important dimensions of sustainable development of rural settlements, depends on several factors. Income is one of the key components affecting the sustainable development of rural economy; therefore, an acceptable level of it can influence the well-being and comfort of the villagers. Considering the many challenges of the rural society of Iran, investigating their income as well as identifying the factors affecting the income level of the rural society can prepare the ground for policy-making and planning to increase the income level and consequently develop rural economy. Therefore, the aim of this quantitative and applied research is to investigate and spatially analyze the level of income and identify the key factors influencing it in rural areas of Iran. The required data were obtained from Iran Statistics Center in 2022, and SPSS and ArcGIS software were used for data analysis. The spatial presentation of the income level in the provinces of Iran showed that most border rural areas were deprived or very deprived. The results of correlation between the level of income and the independent variables showed that the four variables of having welfare infrastructure, literacy percentage, the percentage of employees in the service sector and employees regularly working 49 hours and more had a statistically significant positive relationship with the income level of villagers and the three variables of the percentage of employees in the agricultural sector, the percentage of rural population and distance from the center (capital) had a statistically significant negative relationship with the dependent variable. The results of multiple regression showed that the two variables of having welfare infrastructure and the percentage of employees in the service sector with regression coefficients of 0.615 and 0.512, respectively, are included in the final fitted model (by explaining 63.6% of the income variance of the rural society of Iran), and they influence explaining the variance of income.

One of the most important stages of an academic research is choosing a certain suitable theoretical framework. Therefore, this research aimed to find a theoretical framework according to the prerequisites for sustainable rural development. A theoretical framework is a perspective and a school of thought based on which a research is organized. There are different theoretical frameworks and schools in economic knowledge, which can explain issues differently. Therefore, an appropriate theoretical framework should be chosen to identify a specific subject and analyze its related issues. Accordingly, to analyze and identify the issues related to sustainable rural development, it is necessary to use an appropriate theoretical framework that can provide a more realistic explanation. Thus, the data were analyzed using a descriptive-analytical method, and the most important prerequisites for sustainable rural development were identified by referring to the literature. According to the results, education, human development, institutional regime, social development, improvement of productivity, environment, equality, improvement of infrastructure, promotion of non-agricultural employment, and technology were recognized as the most important prerequisites for sustainable rural development, most of which having an institutional nature. Therefore, the best theoretical framework that can explain and analyze the issues related to sustainable rural development and provide more realistic explanation is “institutional economics”.

Today, one of the most important concerns for researchers and planners in rural areas is the population instability of rural settlements, which can hinder rural development plans. Therefore, the present study was conducted to reveal the hidden motivations of villagers for migration in the villages of Khusf County and furthermore provide appropriate solutions for greater population stability. The research is applied in terms of purpose and nature and descriptive-analytical in terms of method. The population consisted of 41 villages over 100 population (4226 households and 13892 people), which, according to geographical distribution, population classification, and population decline in 2006 and 2016, 20% of them (8 villages) with 796 households were selected the as sample. A total number of 259 questionnaires (based on Cochran’s Formula) were distributed among the sample based on simple random sampling. One sample t-test was used to analyze quantitative data and the Friedman test was used to rank the effect of different factors on population instability. Based on the results, drought had the greatest impact on population instability in the settlements studied, followed by unemployment, low income, and low facilities and services, respectively.