Geographic pattern of welfare distribution and identification of factors affecting it in rural areas of Iran
Subject Areas : Regional Planning
1 - Assistant Professor, Department of Geomorphology, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran
Part-time Researcher at Kurdistan Studies Institute, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran
Keywords: Regional planning, Spatial balance, Rural settlements, welfare level,
Abstract :
Having an acceptable level of various components of development is the inalienable right of the hardworking rural community. Nevertheless, researches show that there are many shortcomings regarding the rural community's enjoyment of development components. One of the most important components of development is the availability of welfare variables for the rural community. The aim of the present quantitative and applied research is to investigate and spatially analyze how the rural areas of Iran enjoy in terms of welfare variables. The required data has been collected from the Iranian Statistics Center in 2022. For data analysis, a combined method has been used (combination of findings from decision-making models, cluster analysis technique and geographic information system). In terms of welfare indicators, the research results showed that the three provinces of Alborz, Hormozgan and Bushehr, respectively, with a priority coefficient of 0.492, 0.48134 and 0.4813, they are the most privileged and The three provinces of Sistan and Baluchistan, Lorestan and North Khorasan, They are the weakest provinces of Iran with priority coefficients of 0.052, 0.163 and 0.198 respectively. The results of cluster analysis showed, 11 provinces of Iran have been placed at a relatively developed level, 10 provinces at the level of medium development, 9 provinces at deprived level and The Sistan and Baluchistan province is placed at a very disadvantaged level. The results of the spatial analysis of Iran's provinces in terms of the prosperity index in rural areas showed that, most of the border provinces are in unfavorable conditions compared to the central provinces of Iran. The results of the fitted multivariate regression model showed the Income variable, with a determination coefficient of 0.564 and a beta coefficient of 0.751., is a most key factor affecting the level of well-being in rural areas. Extended Abstract Introduction In developing countries, most of the development measures for rural communities focus on the programs of foreign countries and model them and Little attention has been paid to indigenous knowledge and innovation, especially in rural areas, as a means of development and prosperity. As a result, despite the emphasis of our country's upstream documents on providing welfare, which is closely related to the type and manner of applying the government's policies, studies show that the situation of the rural community is in an unfavorable condition, which indicates the fundamental weaknesses in the pillars of the rural planning system in is the country; In such a way that the welfare level of all rural households in the country has decreased during the year 2014-2015 and rural households have a lower level of welfare than urban households. Among the most important factors of the low level of well-being in rural areas, including our country, we can mention the limited access to credit, weak management within the provinces and little attention to spatial inequality at the national level, the lack of motivation among the residents of rural areas to increase social well-being, and the decrease in income levels. and financial ability of rural households. On the one hand, the measurement of well-being is one of the bases of public sector policy analysis and is a current issue that has great scientific and political importance and on the other hand, knowing the factors affecting the well-being of the villagers in the first place can provide a comprehensive understanding of the concept of desirability and satisfaction and Secondly, based on the knowledge gained, policy makers and planners can be helped in preparing and implementing effective policies to improve the welfare conditions of households and increase happiness and life satisfaction in rural areas; Therefore, it is very important to investigate the welfare state of the rural community and identify the factors affecting it. According to the above, the main questions of the current research are: How is the state of the country's provinces in terms of welfare index? Which are the most privileged and deprived rural areas in terms of benefiting from the welfare index? What is the spatial pattern of welfare distribution in rural areas of Iran? What are the most important factors affecting the level of well-being of rural society in Iran? Methodology The purpose of the present quantitative and applied research, which has been carried out with the descriptive-analytical method, is the spatial analysis of the level of well-being in the rural part of Iran's provinces and the identification of factors affecting it. To collect the required information and data, in addition to documentary studies, the documents of the country's statistics center have been used. According to the main goal of the research, the process of doing it was as follows: In the first stage, the key variables of the index of ownership of durable consumer goods have been identified and extracted. In the second stage, the coefficient of the country's provinces in terms of welfare level has been calculated using TOPSIS model and the provinces of the country have been prioritized in terms of welfare level. It should be noted that the opinions of 15 experts have been used in the mentioned model to calculate the weight of the variables. In the third stage, using the cluster analysis technique in SPSS software, the provinces of the country are grouped into four homogeneous clusters. In the fourth step, the results of the cluster analysis technique were entered into the Geographic Information System and the spatial distribution of the welfare level in the provinces of Iran was displayed. In the fifth step, the key factors related to the level of well-being in rural areas have been identified using the correlation coefficient test and multivariate regression using SPSS software. Finally, according to the findings, solutions have been presented to reduce the spatial imbalance between the rural areas of Iran in terms of welfare variables. Results and Discussion The findings of the research showed that the three provinces of Alborz, Hormozgan and Bushehr are the most privileged provinces in the country with a priority coefficient of 0.492, 0.48134 and 0.48130 respectively and The three provinces of Sistan and Baluchistan, Lorestan and North Khorasan are the weakest provinces in the country in terms of welfare indicators with priority coefficients of 0.052, 0.163 and 0.198 respectively. Also, the findings indicate that there is a big gap and inequality between the provinces of the country in terms of benefiting from welfare variables. The findings of the spatial representation of the country's provinces in terms of the availability of welfare variables showed that the dominant area of the country's geographical extent in terms of the availability of welfare variables is medium, deprived and very deprived. Also, the results show that the border provinces of the country, with the exception of the four provinces of East and West Azerbaijan, Hormozgan and Bushehr, are in a relatively unfavorable situation, and the central provinces of the country are in a better situation than other provinces, and the results of multivariable regression showed that the income variable , with a determination coefficient of 0.564 and a beta coefficient of 0.751, is the most key factor affecting the level of well-being in rural areas. Conclusion In order to achieve this important, fundamental revision in the current policies and planning of rural planning and the application of decisive, stable and effective support policies of the public sector (as the most effective factor of rural development / non-development in Iran) of rural communities that meet the conditions It seems necessary that the geography governing the different provinces of the country should be aligned. The realization of this sustainable support policy depends on the coherent and integrated management of rural development, which includes local and expert rural planning specialists. Among the key programs of rural development in the country with an emphasis on sustainable income generation are the sustainable exploitation of water and soil resources, the development of job creation and sustainable location-based entrepreneurship, the formation of multi-purpose rural production and sales cooperatives, the establishment of conversion and complementary industries. , development of local and regional marketing, improvement of industrial, communication and physical infrastructures of villages, etc., he mentioned. It should be mentioned that despite the general poor state of the welfare coefficient of the country's provinces, it is better to give priority to provinces such as Sistan and Baluchistan, Lorestan, North Khorasan, Ilam, South Khorasan and Kermanshah, which are located in the the most unfavorable situation. In order to complete the results of the research, study proposals are presented as follows: Identifying the most important sources of sustainable income in rural areas of Iran; Identifying and prioritizing income-generating operational projects in the rural sector of Iran by different provinces.
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