Rostak, the third kind of settlement, an approach to achieve suitable settlement in accordance with sustainable development

The main idea of this paper is that the present rural and urban settlements could not provide proper settlement for living. It is necessary to seek for a new pattern of settlement that is compatible with the needs and demands of modern societies and also could provide for sustainable development and redress the imbalance in the current rural and urban settlements. The rural and urban settlements issue analysis shows that transition from traditional to modern society led to settlement patterns that could not be adapted to new life patterns and socio-economic needs of people. The current state of rural-urban settlements and one-sided and center-oriented flows of population to the highest level of hierarchical settlement are all indicative of issues of our national society. They imply the imbalance in settlement systems and ineffectiveness of the efforts of planners and decision makers in the development of rural and urban settlements. It seems that our society is facing a serious crisis. A critical social problem that would bring about more inefficiency، inequality and instability that leads to regional inequity and slow national development. Many villages and small town are becoming empty of population due to rural-urban migration، and the few remaining villages and towns are facing the identity crisis. The persistence of the situation forced urban and regional planers to look for new plans and ways leading them out of the settlement crisis. The main finding of this study was that to solve the rural and urban problems، we should turn to alternative solutions. The alternative solution is a third kind of settlement that we call it «Rostak».