Analysis of Economic-Production and Industrial Functional Changes in Peri-Urban Villages of Langrood

Subject Areas : Regional Planning

Mohadese Nourani ¹ (Ph.D student geography and rural planning, Rasht branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran)
Teymoor Amar ² (Associate Professor of Geography Department, Rasht branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran)
Mohammad Baset Ghoreshi Minabad ³ (Assistant Professor of Geography Department, Rasht branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran)

Received: 2019-09-01 Accepted : 2020-04-13 Published : 2022-02-20

Keywords: "functional Changes", "Economic, Productiveو Industrial", "peri-urban Villages", "Langrood",

Abstract :

In recent years, rural areas affected by internal and external factors have undergone many structural and functional changes. Consequently, understanding these changes and the factors affecting them is one of the essentials of rural planning in order to provide a new definition of the role of the village and its functions. In this regard, peri-urban Villages have undergone more functional changes than others. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the economic, productive and industrial change of these villages. The purpose of this research is "applied" and the scientific method used is "analytical-descriptive". Data gathering tools are expert questionnaires and interviews using field and documentary studies. Accordingly, a number of professors were consulted to ensure the validity of the questionnaire. Its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.748 and factor analysis above 0.5. The study population consisted of households living in peri-urban Villages of Langrood and local village managers. The sample size was obtained using Cochran formula of 375 households and the questionnaires were distributed among the inhabitants of the villages. Also, the opinion of 22 local village managers was used to evaluate the criteria in the TOPSIS Expert Questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using SPSS and AMOS software and TOPSIS model analysis. The findings of this study showed that there is a relationship between physical development of Langrood city and changes in economic, production and industrial performance of the villages with mean of 4.16 and numerical utility of 3 at the significant level of 0.001.
Introduction
Growth is the dynamism and evolution of the general characteristics of urban systems. The rapid growth of urbanization or the physical development of cities is causing the city to spread to rural areas. Continuation of this process expands the activities and influence of the city in rural areas and causes rural activities to be strongly influenced by urban needs. The main consequence of this will be the change in the relationship between the city and the village over time (Lynch, 1965: 49). Among the important changes that are mainly affected by cities and have been observed in some rural areas of Iran in recent decades, are functional changes (Zaheri & Rahimipoor, 2013: 122). Thus, housing, activity and employment, communication with others, collective life, education, rest and tranquility are the functions of rural settlements (Shamsoddini & Rahimi, 2013: 98). The acceleration of internal and external factors in recent decades has more or less changed these functions in different regions (Mohammadzade, 2010: 10). Deep and extensive developments that have led to the formation of new constructions (Woodz, 2013: 2) that will bring problems. Therefore, one of the first requirements for sustainable development and integrated urban and rural management is to identify the factors which affecting the functional changes of rural areas (Ahmadi et al, 2013: 183). Among these factors are population growth, expansion of human activities in nature, inappropriate land use, etc., which have exposed large areas of destruction (Makhdoom, 2014: 116). In this regard peri-urban villages have undergone many changes in terms of economic, production and industrial functions. Therefore, this question arises that what changes have taken place in the rural functions of the peri-urban districts of Langrood, and what factors have influenced these changes? And it is hypothesized that the physical development of the city of Langrood has influenced the functional changes of the villages in the study area. It can be guessed that these villages, due to their special geographical location and being located on the edge of the city, are more exposed to economic, social and other currents between the city and the village than other villages, and as a result, have faced changes in their functions.
Methodology:
In terms of purpose, this research is "applied" and the scientific method used in is "descriptive-analytical". The required information was obtained through both documentary (library) and field methods. The data measurement tool in this study is a researcher-made questionnaire that includes 10 items related to economic, production and industrial performance in the form of a 5-point Likert scale. To ensure the validity of the questionnaire, were used from the views of professors and its reliability was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.748 and factor analysis above 0.5. The statistical population of the study includes all households living in peri-urban villages of Langrood and local managers, which according to the results of the last population and housing census of the Statistics Center of Iran in 2016 was equal to 5974 households. The sample size was 375 using Cochran's formula and was distributed among the residents by quota sampling method according to the number of households living in each village. In the present study, the information and data obtained from the distribution of the questionnaire were analyzed using SPSS, AMOS software and TOPSIS model.
Results and discussion:
The results obtained from the mean analysis and t-statistic as well as the effect path of the variables show that the physical development and expansion of Langrood city had the greatest effect with the effect coefficient of 0.678 on increasing the investment of non-natives in rural industrial activities. In this regard, the least impact is on increasing job opportunities in rural areas with a coefficient of effect of 0.510. This suggests that despite the expansion of investment in rural areas, job opportunities have not been provided to local forces, thus not increasing income for the villagers. After normalizing the matrix and weighting the criteria by Shannon entropy method, it was found that among the studied villages, Nalkiasher village with a weight score of 0.936 had the most changes in industrial performance. The reason for this is the creation of Nalkiasher industrial town in this village. In the next step, the leveling of options in terms of changes in economic, production and industrial performance based on CL (proximity coefficient) and relative proximity to the ideal situation in five floors (very weak from zero to 0.2, weak from 0.2 to 0.4, average 0.4 to 0.6, good 0.6 to 0.8 and very good 0.8 to 1). Based on the results obtained from the Topsis model, it was found that the village of Nalkiasher with a coefficient of proximity of 0.9351 had very large changes in economic-production and industrial performance. The rate of change in the villages of Lilakooh, Abchalaki, Divshal, Salkouyeh, Klidbar and Daryasar has been high and in other villages it has covered a range from medium to low.
Conclusion:
The expansion of cities to their surrounding areas has different results in different areas. The physical development of the city of Langrood towards the surrounding villages has also changed the economic function of these villages. This is especially true in the villages closest to Langrood. In order to investigate the effect of physical development of Langrood city on functional changes of peri-urban villages, a single sample t test was used and the results showed that the mean values were higher than the mean (numerical desirability of 3) at a significance level of 0.001. Therefore, it can be stated that the physical development of Langrood city has an effect on changes in the economic, production and industrial performance of the study area and the hypothesis of this research is confirmed. Finally, the results of quantitative studies also showed that the physical development of the city of Langrood has increased investment in the villages under study, especially in non-agricultural sectors, and thus increased employment and income.

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