mojtaba ghadirimasoum

The rural entrepreneurial ecosystem plays a pivotal role in stimulating entrepreneurship and employment in rural areas. By leveraging entrepreneurship in rural regions, it is possible to address the challenges faced by these areas and create dynamic and innovative economies. Despite favorable climatic, geographic, connectivity, and accessibility conditions, Alborz province has experienced inappropriate economic conditions in its rural areas in recent years, including rising unemployment rates, low economic participation rates, and income disparities between rural and urban households. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the status of the rural entrepreneurial ecosystem in Alborz province as a key economic indicator.

This research was conducted within a quantitative research methodology. Data collection was carried out through a combination of library research and field surveys, with questionnaires being the primary tool in the field. The statistical population comprised the villages of Alborz province, from which a sample of 33 villages was selected. Using the Cochran formula, a sample size of 380 individuals was determined for completing the questionnaires. For data analysis, statistical tests such as chi-square, one-sample t-test, ANOVA, Duncan’s post hoc test, and Kriging interpolation were employed.

The research findings indicate that the rural entrepreneurial ecosystem in Alborz province is in a suboptimal state. Out of the ten key indicator groups examined, including business indicators, financial indicators, educational indicators, human capital indicators, support indicators, market and customer indicators, social indicators, cultural indicators, infrastructure indicators, and innovation, research, and development indicators, only two groups were found to be in a favorable condition, while the remaining eight groups were in an unfavorable state. Additionally, the geographical distribution of the rural entrepreneurial ecosystem's status varies across the province.

The presence of hard infrastructure such as access to transportation networks and urban centers is insufficient on its own to foster the development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem. Concurrently, the development of soft infrastructure, including financial services, education, various support systems, human and social capital, and research and development, must also be prioritized.

In recent decades, the growth and development process of cities, especially megacities, has gained a very high speed. This issue has been accompanied by a significant increase in population and activity in these cities. The excessive growth of the population in the metropolises has affected the physical development of the cities and their surrounding areas and has caused major changes and transformations in the rural settlements located around them. Among these challenges are the lack of services and facilities needed by the residents, the physical disorder of the settlements, unauthorized and unprincipled constructions, encroachment on national lands and natural resources and land use change, land and housing stock exchange, as well as social-cultural issues and problems in rural settlements within the city limits. Tehran pointed out that the main reason for these issues is the lack of a coherent and efficient management system. For this reason, in the current research, the integrated management model of the peripheral villages of Tehran has been studied as an efficient and alternative approach to the traditional approaches for managing the peripheral villages of Tehran city. Therefore, the main goal of this research is to explain the integrated management model of the peripheral villages of Tehran city. The statistical population of this research is the number of 34 rural settlements located in the metropolitan area of ​​Tehran, all of which have been studied as samples. The target community of the research included experts of executive bodies (national headquarters, province and city), local managers (villagers and members of the Islamic council of villages) and local knowledgeable people. The main tool for collecting data is a questionnaire and a total of 350 questionnaires have been distributed and completed. Indeed, statistical tests (chi-square, one-sample t-test, linear regression, and path analysis) were used to analyze the data. The study's findings indicate that the among these factors, the policy and planning factor has the most effect. And after that, institutional-executive, social-cultural factors, laws and regulations, economic and financial resources, and spatial factors have the greatest effect.

Today; optimal management requires the utilization of local capacities and compliance with macro planning policies and systems. Accordingly, paying attention to local governance is the approach every planner uses. Peri-urban villages and especially rural areas of the Tehran metropolitan fringe must have an efficient management framework due to their influence from the city. This is possible when it is possible to identify the desired local management and related components. The review of the previous research shows the Weakness of the existing frameworks in explaining the integrated framework of local management in rural areas. This research has been done to develop a comprehensive framework of effective local governance processes in peri-urban villages with a systematic review.in terms of purpose, this research is basic. The current research has collected the components of local management of peri-urban villages in ten years with a systematic review approach. These components have been collected from 15 databases using 3 specific keywords and a clear and pre-designed strategy. After screening and qualitative evaluation, the final analysis has done on 20 articles—analysis of articles identified six components and 60 sub-components to explain the local management framework. The evaluation of the systematic review studies showed that integrity is a principle in local management. In this field, integrity in executive, structural, laws, financial sources of sustainability, policymaking, citizen-oriented, and vertical should be considered.

The dominant form of migration in developing countries, including Iran, is from the village to the city. However, during the past two decades, another pattern of migration, reverse migration, has occurred in rural areas in such a way that in the findings of the general population and housing census of 2012, the number of reverse migrants is higher than the rural-urban migration. In the whole city of Natanz, due to its location in the center of Isfahan province, the city of Isfahan has access to the markets of Isfahan, Badroud, Khaled Abad, Natanz, and Targhroud. On the other hand, the physical development of Isfahan and its economic and social relations have various characteristics. During the past years, reverse migration flow to urban and rural settlements has taken place in temporary and permanent forms. The general goal is to investigate and analyze the role of reverse migration in the economic development of villages in Natanz. From a practical point of view, the results of such research provide solutions to the country's managers to implement better planning to prevent migration and encourage migrants to return. Reverse migration is when people return to their first place (origin) after a long residence in another place (destination). In other interpretations and definitions, reverse migration is considered a reaction to creating attractiveness in rural areas, which emerges through the establishment of income in activities such as agriculture or animal husbandry, retirement, and sometimes due to the hardships of urban life; a process in which a person or persons, due to various reasons, return to their first place again from the place they have chosen as their new place.

This research is descriptive-analytical. The samples were based on Cochran's formula, and to complete the discussion, Krejcie and Morgan's sample size determination table was also used. Information was collected from 381 individuals across 24 villages through field surveys using a researcher-made questionnaire.

Regarding gender, 84.78% of the sample was male, and 15.22% were female. Also, 94.75% were married, and 5.25% were single. The age group included 3.93% 20-30 years old, 17.85% 31-40 years old, 28.08% 41-50 years old, 27.30% 60-51 years old, 22.83% 61 years old. Out of the total sample, 2.62% are illiterate, 27.82% have a diploma, and 36.49% have a bachelor's degree, master's degree, or higher.One sample t-test was used to study the factors affecting reverse migration. In order to evaluate the dimensions of the factors affecting the migration from the city to the village, the items were first oriented and it was combined as an average; considering the 5-point Likert scale in the research items, the number 3 was chosen as the theoretical median to evaluate the importance of the dimensions of the factors affecting reverse migration from the society's point of view. This research has been studied at a confidence level of 95%. Given the frequency of variables used for leveling (47 variables in the first step) and the importance of evaluating more important variables and determining the weight and importance of each variable, the factor analysis method was used. In this research, the exploratory factor analysis method was used to summarize data and identify causes. In order to determine the suitability of the collected data for factor analysis, the KMO coefficient and Bartlett's statistic, which were significant at the 1% level, were used, so they were suitable for factor analysis. By benefiting from the factor analysis technique in the principal factor analysis method, 6 factors with eigenvalues greater than 1 were extracted, and the variables for evaluating the dimensions of the factors affecting reverse migration were grouped in these factors based on the factorloading and after orthogonal factor rotation using the Varimax method. The 6 factors explained a total of 71.682% of the total variance related to the variables of factors affecting reverse migration.In this research, the basic theory is the theory of human capital, which was proposed by Larry Shasta. According to the theory of human capital, the return migration of people is formed in the hope of benefiting from more prosperity in the village. The result of the research shows that the reverse immigrants have been able to be effective in the economic sector in both capital and idea sectors. In fact, the innovation of this research can be that the economy is based on reverse migration, and if there is a correct plan and vision in the programs and among managers, it can cause the growth and development of villages.

Population relocation and migration is a sign of the continuity of human life, which has a history as old as humankind. People who consider the continuity of life, social and economic activities, and the field of effort limited and short for themselves in a geographical place start to migrate. Among the spatial-location features related to rural areas, "lack of welfare and civil services" has played a special role in the appearance of the driver of migration to the city. However, with the development of welfare-civil services and the increase in the income of the agricultural sector and belonging to the original birthplace, the return of immigrants to rural areas is provided. The results of this research are related to the research of Shaojun Chen and Wurong Liu (2020); urban repulsion factors and attraction factors play a role in the migration from the city to the countryside. It is associated with Stockdale's (2014) studies concerning urban repulsions, such as the inability to create jobs in cities and rural attractions, such as age and retirement. It is associated with the studies of Edival (2015) about urban repulsions such as lack of job security and rural attractions such as retirement. It is associated with the studies of Langroudi et al. (2012) in the field of rural attractions, such as obtaining more income, increasing relative welfare, and improving human dignity for migrants returning to rural areas. According to the studies of Afrakhteh et al. (2015), in economic and cultural-ethnic causes, the least impact on reverse migration from the city to the village is associated.

Nowadays, tourism is widely accepted as a fundamental basis of development. As a sector of economy, tourism is considered to be one of the most important activities of contemporary human beings, which not only makes dramatic changes to the landscape, and political, economic, and cultural condition, but also transforms lifestyle of many individuals. The contemporary world considers tourism as one of the most important sectors of the tertiary industry which affects job creation and income generation, results in significant economic growth, and consequently provides the prerequisites for sustainable development of different societies. Iran is among the top 10 countries of the world in terms of tourist attractions, possessing many sites with potential attractions. Thus, tourism can be considered as an effective tool in dealing with economic problems of the country. As the basis of sustainable development, tourism can solve some problems of the country and thus, development of its infrastructure results in optimal allocation of available resources. The present study seeks to investigate the overall condition of tourism infrastructure in Markazi province. Previous studies in France, Austria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Thailand and Japan indicate that their tourism sector has developed rapidly and now aids other sectors of the economy. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of necessary infrastructure for the development of this industry can result in a more dynamic rural economy. 

This applied study has a descriptive-comparative design and its study area includes all counties of Markazi Province. Library method and questionnaires were used for data collection. Statistical data and information were collected from the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts of Markazi Province and the statistical yearbook (2015) of this province. In accordance with Delfi method and targeted sampling, related indices were sent to 17 rural development experts and specialists via Email.  It should be noted that some of these experts had previous experience in tourism. Finally, 10 completed questionnaires were received. PROMETHEE multifunctional decision-making model was also used to determine the overall condition of counties in Markazi Province in relation to tourism infrastructure.Since the present study seeks to classify counties in Markazi province, the first function of this technique has been used. An appropriate weight is first assigned to each of the 20 indices of tourism infrastructure using Delphi method. Then, these weights are evaluated and measured along with the value of each component and option in Visual PROMETHEE software. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate relations between variables more comprehensively. SPSS 26 and Smart PLS 3 software were also used to analyze the data. 

Findings indicate that Arak with a value of 0.7739 has ranked first among the counties. Several factors can be the reason: First, as the capital of the province, Arak possesses better facilities, larger population, etc. Second, as the main access road connecting neighboring provinces, Arak has developed more than other counties. With a value of 0.4673, Saveh has the second rank. Saveh also contains the access road connecting some of neighboring provinces and is located near Tehran. Thus, a strong industrial town has developed in this county attracting many workers with different ethnicities seeking employment and income. Due to these factors, relatively good facilities have developed in Saveh. With a value of 0.3536, Shazand has ranked third. Due to its proximity to Arak (the capital of the province), this county has attracted large industries such as petrochemical industry along with suitable facilities and infrastructure. Khomein (0.3166), Delijan (0.0168), Mahalat (-0.1023), Tafresh (-0.1634), Khandab (-0.3002), Zarandieh (-0.3266), Farahan (-0.3320), Ashtian (-0.3514) and Komijan (-0.3523) are next in rank.Analyzing the relationships between variables indicates that service-related components (0.279) and transportation-related components (0.096) have the most powerful direct influence on the level of development and other variables are next in rank. 

Findings of the present study and previous studies indicate that centrality and population can be considered as influential factors resulting in easier access to desirable and appropriate facilities in different countries of the world. However, such a difference is not observed between different regions in developed countries due to their integrated development. Developing countries such as Iran lack such an integrated development environment and thus, the condition in provincial capitals is much more different from other counties. As indicated in the present study, the level of development in Arak was much higher than other counties of Markazi province. Therefore, an appropriate plan is required for other counties to achieve sustainable development, and especially sustainable tourism development.

Housing in the sense of a place of residence is exciting, relaxing and soothing, and in the term is a shelter between the life, the family and the surrounding environment, and has a role to play in meeting the biological, life, economic, social, cultural and psychological needs. Failure to comply with rural housing in the face of the occurrence of a natural disaster and the erosive texture of these homes has led the government to try to improve the quality of rural housing through policy and implementation of various solutions. The village housing improvement plan has been started in 1995 with the aim of improving the quality of housing and village infrastructure and improving the level of safety, health, well-being and comfort of rural housing. This project is a kind of urban housing facade and display in the traditional tissue of the villages. In the city of Dehgolan also has been operational. The city of Dehgolan, as one of the cities of Kurdistan province, has a significant part of the rural population and has five rural districts in terms of its divisions. This study is intended to assess the housing situation in the eilaghe jonobi Village. The number of residential units in this village is over 2.639 units, based on existing data and field observations, a significant portion of them are irresistible. In this regard, the present research attempts to answer the question of the effects and consequences of the housing development project on the cardiovascular and economic dimensions of the villages in the studied area.

The methodology of this study is a descriptive-analytic library-survey. The statistical population of the study is Southern ılagh village located in Dehgolan city and the sample is three villages of Qadarmars, Bashmaq and Bakarabad. The main method of collecting data, observing the field and using the tool of the questionnaire and considering the wide area of the study, from a total of 606 residential units located in the studied villages, using the modified Cochran method, 60 residential units were selected as the sample. Using randomized stratified sampling method, percentage and share of sample size of each village were selected. A questionnaire was used to collect field data. To assess its validity and reliability, experts' opinions and Cronbach's alpha method were used, respectively, for economic indicators that consisted of 15 items, equal to 0/744, and for the physical index Which has 14 components, the coefficient was 0/897. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution, mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics methods such as chi-square test, one-sample t-test and Spearman correlation coefficient were used.

The evaluation of descriptive data obtained from the field study shows that the occupation of agriculture and livestock as well as labor is among the respondents the most, so that 38.3% of the respondents have jobs in agriculture and animal husbandry and 31.7% are engaged in work activities. They are The surface area of the residential unit renovated in 55% of the examined cases, less than 80 m and 45% have a residential floor surface of 120-200 m. The total number of respondents has one floor renovated housing and 51.7% of the responding households have a residential unit of 2 rooms and 48.3% of the properties surveyed have one room. The evaluation of three important components regarding the measurement of the quality of the physical dimension of housing suggests that housing renovation has a positive effect on improving the quality indices, such as building strength, increasing the level of satisfaction with the type of materials and structural strength, and observing the principles and technical standards in Has a construction, so that with a significant level of 0.000, the chi-square coefficient for the component of increasing the strength of the building was 13.300, for the overall satisfaction of the physical dimension equal to 24.933 and for the evaluation of the effect on the observance of technical principles, equal to 40.933. The results of t-test on the hypothesis indicate its significance and the negative effect of housing renovation on the participation rate of women in economic activities, so that with a significant level of 0.000, the coefficient of t-test is equal to 9.742- that confirms the hypothesis of the effect of housing renovation and Changing the functions of rural housing emphasizes the level of women's participation in economic activities.

 the present study, the effects of the implementation of a special rural housing improvement plan on structural-functional changes in rural housing in the southern part of the Dehgolan city were investigated. Despite the prevalence of the number of non-rugged residential units in this village, over the past two decades, many of the worn-out buildings have been renovated and renovated in the framework of this plan. The study of 15 economic categories indicates that, due to the type of rural livelihood that is often farmed, renovation of housing does not have a favorable effect on household economic status and has somehow undermined the diverse economic activities of rural households. Surveying the level of satisfaction with the physical aspects of rural housing has shown a relatively favorable situation, so that owners are pleased with the improvement of the level of safety and the degree of resistance of the building and the type of materials used in the manufacturing process and because of the benefit of spaces such as toilets, baths And the kitchen, consider the quality and sanitary level of the renovated housing as desirable. But they are not satisfied with the limited level of infrastructure and their lack of attention to the design of the interior plans of rural houses. Respondents have been of the opinion that the way of constructing new homes has changed the traditional landscape of villages and, by following the design and architecture of urban housing, minimize the environmental and climatic factors in the construction of new housing. 

Today, efforts to integrate the principles and objectives of sustainability and the combination of environmental along with economic and social considerations as the main target of planners and policy makers in the field of rural development. In this context, strategic approaches to environmental assessment can be available as a powerful tool for reaching the above goal for decision-makers of rural development. Based on several decades of development planning experience in Iran, efforts to achieve rapid economic growth have caused that the integrity of environmental, economic and social considerations not considered in many national and regional and local development initiatives and as a result, have significant damage to the human and natural environment in many parts of the country. Especially, it is very important for rural areas of khuzestan province which have a direct dependence on natural resources and environmental resources for meet your livelihood needs. The purpose of this study is to use environmental screening in relation to the strategic actions of rural development and with emphasizing on the strategic document of economic development in khuzestan province as one of the most important of strategic measures in the urban and rural development of khuzestan province.

The present study was an applied research based on the objective and type, while it was classified in the descriptive and analytical studies group in terms of nature and methodology. The screening process has been conducted by using checklists and matrices in the Fuzzy Delphi framework. In this research, 26 of environmental experts and intellectualin planning areas have been asked to participate in various levels of data collection. According to the methodology framework, the screening process has been carried out based on three key structures and components A: the characteristics of strategic action, B: characteristics of the environmental effects and C: the area likely to be covered and affected and also 27 environmental screening criteria. In addition, in order to make a final decision, three essential conditions were identified as a prerequisite for deciding whether to accept or reject the environmental significance of strategic action. Among the three conditions, the first condition of the structural distances is less than the threshold of 0.2 in relation to acceptance or rejection of the structures, and the second condition is the percentage of the consensus of the experts and the decision group higher than the threshold of 0.75 and the third condition The criterion rating in the structure is based on the definite values of significance above the threshold of 0.7 in relation to the screening criteria.

Screening results showed that the strategic action has significant environmental impactin in terms of key structures such as content characteristics, environmental impacts, and geographic coverage and its implementation will have a significant potential impact on the environment of rural areas. The results showed that according to first prerequisite, the specific value of threshold value,d-construct (Tvd-c) estimated for three key structures and components such as A: the characteristics of strategic action, B: characteristics of the environmental effects and c: the area likely to be covered and affected respectively was 0.005, 0.007, and 0.01 and lower the threshold value of 0.2. So, represents a high level of decision-making agreement about the environmental significance of "strategic document for economic development of khuzestan province". According to the data collected from consensus of experts, estimated values for environmental screening criteria including (A1) the degree to which the strategic action sets a framework for projects and other activities; (A2) the degree to which the strategic action influences other PPS including those in a hierarchy; and (A4) environmental problems relevant to the strategic action is above the threshold (0.7) and the estimated values for (A3) the relevance of the strategic action for the integration of environmental considerations in particular with a view to promoting sustainable development and (A5) the relevance of the strategic action for the implementation of community legislation on the environment is below the threshold (0.7). Furthermore, the results showed that based on second prerequisite (consensus of experts (above 75%)) and third prerequisite (Crisp values (above 0.7)), the definite amount of risk of environmental outcomes on livelihoods and welfare of rural communities is equal to (0.79) and on environmental health and natural resources equal to (0.78) and for (a) the probability, duration, frequency and reversibility of the effects, transboundary nature of the effects is above the threshold (0.7) and which is significant. In addition, the environmental significance of the above-mentioned strategic document, from the aspect of the geographical area and size of the population likely to be affected including populated and high-density areas, habitats with natural landscape, intensive land used areas and areas affected by current environmental problemshave been evaluated higher than "remarkable''.

According to the principles of sustainable development theory, attention to the environment and the goals of sustainability and the integration of environmental considerations must be made at all levels of strategic decision-making. In rural development planning system, strategic approaches to environmental assessment including Strategic Environmental Screening Process (SES), can be used as a powerful tool for achieving the above goal and for Mainstreaming environmental considerations alongside socioeconomic issues. In this research, based on the results of the strategic environmental screening, the "strategic document for economic development of khuzestan province" in relation to the key structures and components such as A: the characteristics of strategic action, B: characteristics of the environmental effects and c: the area likely to be covered and affected and as well as many of the screening criteria including environmental impacts on livelihoods and welfare of villagers, impact on environmental health and natural resources has significant environmental impactin and its implementation will have a significant potential impact on the human and natural environment of rural areas in khuzestan province. Therefore, it is suggested that in order to change and modify the policies and development strategies the strategic action to be reviewed and or subject to strategic environmental assessment.

Agritourism is a kind of rural tourism that is located in a particular tourism or alternative tourist group. Today, agritourism is considered as a strategy to improve the economic, social and biological conditions of villages in the world. The present paper aims at assessing the capacity of Masal rural environment for the development of Agritourism based on 6 indicators: The landscape of natural attractions, the landscape of man-made attractions, tourist capacity, accommodation facilities and amenities, infrastructure facilities and services, and historical-cultural monuments in order to not only evaluate the general status of Masal villages in terms of the possibility of making and developing agricultural tourism but also identify the most susceptible areas. The statistical population consists of all rural areas of Township Masal. The Township Masal has 108 rural spots. Based on sampling in descriptive studies, 20% of the villages, 20 villages, have been identified as samples, depending on the location of the elevation -topography (Plain, foothills and mountains) indices. The Present study is a kind of applied research with a quantitative approach which has been used to analyze the data from multi-factor decision-making models (MADM) with non-predictive methods DEMATEL, ANP, and ANP-DEMATEL. The findings showed that rural areas of Masal have a good capacity for agritourism development. However, the foothill regions and the hillsides are better than the mountainous area.

Poverty is one of the most important challenges humankind face with it. Villagers are one of the poorest and most vulnerable groups in societies, especially in the third world. Accordingly, providing a livelihood in human societies is one of the biggest challenges of planning, particularly in rural communities, which are the focus of the poor people in developing countries. Livelihood consist of activities, assets, and access that are jointly determine individual or rural households living condition. According to the livelihood approach empowerment and the interference power of villager in their individual and society destiny and activities are link to sustainable livelihoods framework. These criteria affect the livelihood strategies of rural households and has significant role in subsistence and livelihood sustainability. By increasing the level of access to different types of assets dependent on the livelihood and control of them , the poor will be able to provide their basic needs and they can create alternative livelihood choices , These assets comprise a livelihood body.According to these issues, the present study examines the capital and assets of poor villager and seeks to spatial analyze of livelihood assets in the villages of Buin Zahra Township, and seeks to answer these questions: how is the spatial distribution of livelihood assets in the studied villages? What level are livelihood assets in the villages of buin Zahra Township? In addition, is there difference between villages of study area in livelihood assets? Which of the livelihood assets in the villages of the study is desirable?

Methodology of this research is applied one and in the nature is descriptive- analytical. Data was collected by documentary study (Books, Articles and Reports) and field study (Questionnaire, Observation, and Interview). required data was collected by using a questionnaire form and interviewing with 532 people (the Cochran formula was used for sampling) of40 villages in Buin Zahra Township, To analyze the data, descriptive statistics (Mean, Frequency) and comparative statistics (Correlation Coefficient, One Sample T-test, ANOVA), and in order to evaluate and analyze the assets we use the Moran and Gi spatial statistics method and kriging. Validity of the questionnaire was examined by scholar and a pre-test and was approved after correction. In addition, the reliability of the questionnaire was evaluated by using the Cronbach’s alpha test in the SPSS software, which was confirmed to be 0/88. In general, in order to measure the level of livelihood assets and their spatial distribution, from the perspective of the sample society, dimensions of livelihood assets were identified in six social, institutional, human, natural, physical, financial and 71 indicators.

 Discussion & findings:

Investigating the individual characteristics of respondents shows that the average age of individuals is 45.97 years, among them 2 percent male and the rest are women. According to the level of education, 33.1% of the respondents are illiterate, 16.5% are elementary, 27.3% are secondary, 23.1% have an undergraduate degree and diploma degree. In terms of household size, the average size of household’s members is 2.61 and the maximum number of members is from the number of 7 to 5 members. The descriptive results of the study showed that the livelihood assets of the villagers were on the moderate and lower levels and according to the one sample t-test of villagers’ perspective, only social asset was evaluated at the desired level. One-way ANOVA was used to determine the variability of villages in terms of assets that the test results indicate that there is a significant difference between the studied villages in terms of access to assets. According to Duncan, test results show that zein-abad rural district had the lowest livelihood assets. one-way variance analysis test was used To find the different assets average in the study villages,; the results showed that the social asset has better conditions in the studied villages and human asset is undesirable. Non-parametric analysis of the correlation between social, physical, human, financial, natural and institutional assets in the studied villages indicates a direct relationship between livelihood assets. The mapping data generated in relation to livelihood assets and indicate indicate that; in terms of livelihood assets, the central district of Buin Zahra township, the east west and north of the region, has a desirable condition and the south & southeast and the west has undesirable conditions. The map of hot spots are also confirms that. Hot spot located in the central district; and cold spots are located in the south-east & south-west (in the whole south of Buin Zahra Township)

This study aimed to analyze the spatial distribution of livelihoods in villages of Buin Zahra Township. According to the research results, the social assets of the villages are in a good condition; and the same asset can be used to improve other assets; because rural development programs can be better fulfill and implemented with cooperation and participation of villagers; and according to the kriging-based maps for south-eastern villages ( some villages of zahraye-paein rural district) and villages of zein-abad rural district, social asset promotion programs should be carried out through participation of people in decision-making and implementation of employment plans and village executive activities through rural municipality and village councils. according to the maps of the studied villages and the results of the analysis of one - way variance, human assets among other assets are in a undesirable condition and this is a major weakness in the region; especially in the eastern and southern regions of Buin Zahra township, that programs should be funded by relevant institutions, including the education and vocational education of the province in cooperation with the local management, So that people in agriculture and livestock will have sufficient education and skill, and by holding entrepreneurial education, they may teach people to be creative and innovative in the fields of farm and farm jobs, which are the dominant method of livelihood of villagers. Moreover, rural households are able to earn more money and has a sustainable livelihood and less vulnerable to risks.

Nowadays, entrepreneurship and the creation of entrepreneurial activities are the best strategy for the survival and development of villages. The present research aims at zoning the rural areas of Pars Abad in terms of the relative advantages of entrepreneurship and the factors that affect it. The research is based on a descriptive-analytic method. Data gathering was done by document and field methods, i.e. questionnaire and observation. The statistical population of the study consisted of entrepreneurs and villagers. According to the sample, 22 rural entrepreneurs were selected by the random sampling method, and 377 villagers were selected randomly. To evaluate the relative advantage of rural entrepreneurship, the scale advantage index (SAI), efficiency advantage index (EAI), spatial advantage index (LQ) and collective advantage index (AAI) were used through a hierarchical cluster analysis. Also, to investigate the affecting factors, Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance was done. The change-share method was used to predict the growth status of entrepreneurship in rural areas. As the results showed, Aslandois, Islamabad, Savalan and Oltan have the greatest comparative advantage in rural entrepreneurship. It was also found that differentiating factors are mainly local practices that affect the quantity and quality of entrepreneurship.

Pilot project is one of the rural development schemes that have been implemented in rural settlements of Ardabil Province as well as in other provinces. The purpose of this study is clarify the socio - cultural effects of rural pilot projects implementation in north of Ardebil province. Research method is analytical – descriptive and main part data were collected using field method as observation, interviews and completing questionnaire. From 58 villages that pilot project was implemented, 17 villages were selected and studied through stratified random sampling. Number of households in the studied villages is equal to N = 2294. Sample size were estimated equals to (s=303) households using Greasy – Morgan table. Through random sampling method, questionnaire distributed among villages residents and then was collected. The data after extraction using SPSS software were checked and analyzed and then interpreted. And univariate regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. The results showed that significance level of regression error for 0/95 is lower than 0/05 for all three hypotheses. Thus it can be said that all three assumptions have been approved. May we suggest the implementation of Rural Socio-cultural factors influenced the introduction of Rural Social and cultural factors all predict a significant relationship between them.

INTRODUCTION Rural entrepreneurship is considered as a new approach for empowerment and capacity building in rural areas in order to reduce the gap between urban-rural areas and providing economic equality, social, environmental and institutional equalities. The level and scope of the risk are associated with the large number of factors and one of the most prominent categories of them is "capital". The social capital enjoys such important role in comparison with other sorts of capital that in the absence of social capital, other sorts of capital lose their effectiveness. The present paper is an attempt to examine and explain the communicating pattern between pillars of social capital with risk taking of youth with the aim of sustainability of rural entrepreneurship in Tonekabon County.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Entrepreneurship is a process in which the individual entrepreneur, according to his personality traits, consciously is to solve a problem and with innovative and creative spirit provides solutions, tools and/or plans and by accepting risks them tries to make them happen and finally strives to market his product and develop and underpin a new stream. Thus, rural entrepreneurs are seeking to identify new opportunities, innovation and creativity in agricultural and non-agricultural activities, land use and optimal, versatile and innovative use with the aim of rural development. Therefore, social capital is a source created in the business network or within individual network and has two basic pillars of trust and social network. In the meantime, one of the most important fundamental factors is social capital as it leads to creativity, innovative behaviors and the increase of judicious risk-taking and use of material interests.
The communities that enjoy a variety of social networks and civic associations are in a much more robust situation in facing vulnerabilities and the disputes and can better control their risk sources.
METHODOLOGY The present study is applied and developmental in terms of purpose, descriptive-analytical in terms of the nature, and correlational in terms of type of research. The data was collected using documents and field studies. The instrument used in this study was a questionnaire survey. The validity of the instrument was assessed with the help of 15 experts and specialists in the field of planning and rural development in the area under question. The reliability of test was achieved using the factor analysis (K.M.O = 0.812) that confirms the high reliability of the tool. With utilizing Cochran formula and confidence coefficient of 95 percent the sample size of 365 young persons in rural was determined and the amount of Bartlett's test, i.e. 951.689, verified that the sample size was sufficient to conduct research and analysis. Samples of the study were selected using multistage cluster sampling and randomly from District, Rural District (or Dehestan) and Hamlet (or Abadi), respectively. Descriptive statistics were provided using SPSS software and the final analysis was conducted utilizing path analysis in LISREL8.5 software.
DISCUSSION Previous theories and researches suggest that one of the influencing factors in the risk taking of entrepreneurs is social capital. This paper strived to analyze and explain the impact of social capital indicators on risk-taking of rural youth in Tonekabon County to establish and develop entrepreneurship. The results of path analysis with the coefficient of 48 percent have shown that to some extent the risk-taking of the rural youth in the region is effected by social capital and also the elements of social capital not only have direct impact on the risk-taking, they have also indirect impact. In terms of efficacy, it can also be said that elements of social capital enjoy positive effects on the risk-taking of rural youth. Among the above-mentioned elements, the highest level of (direct and indirect) impact was related to Partnership with 0.22. Subsequently, there are Social trust with the 0.195, Place Attachment with 0.106 and solidarity and social bond with 0.10, respectively.
CONCLUSION The result confirms the fact that the greater the amount of social capital leads to more tendency towards entrepreneurship and risk-taking. As a result, communities with higher social capital can cause flourishing of new ideas in people with having positive impact on the transfer of information and this new idea leads to creativity and consequently higher risk-taking and entrepreneurship of the society. Besides, social capital reduces costs, improves information flow, increases confidence, stability and consistency in order to achieve common goals.

Providing sustainable food security in rural societies is one of the main objective of rural development programs. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the factors affecting the sustainable food security of rural households. The study design is descriptive-analytical with practical applications. The study population was rural households in Zanjan Township. In 2011, Zanjan Township comprised 97225 rural people, 26429 households, 13 districts and 248 villages. A total of 54 villages were selected as study villages. Library and field research (questionnaire) were used for data collection. For data analysis, descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (1-sample t test and linear regression) were used. Results indicated that sustainable food security of rural households was not optimum. The economic factors were the most important factors in food security of sustainable rural households. According to the research findings, suggestions, such as expanding and strengthening consumer stores, offering a basket of food commodities were provided to families covered by social institutions.

Evaluation of different parts of tourism will cause the optimized resource allocation of development plans and strategies, thereupon evaluating these parts has become essential in various destinations. Rural tourism consider as one of the main forces of developing and welfare of rural economies. In such term, rural tourism supply chain evaluation is regarded as one of the major strategies for developing the rural area. Tourism supply chain evaluation states that how a tourism product is manufactured and when and how will perform in tourists and which outcome it will cause. Despite the undeniable importance of this issue, there has not been any study devoted to tourism supply chain and investigating its performance. This study will evaluate rural tourism supply chain with Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in Mesr village, Iran, in 2015 and will offer solutions in way of improvement and enrichment of its performance. The results indicate that five factors of transportation, visitor information, accommodation, infrastructures and attractions function properly and catering services, Entertainment and shopping facilities have inappropriate functions in Mesr tourism supply chain.

Introduction The interaction and mutual cooperation of rural and urban areas in developing countries is different from the developed ones. The type of relations between villages and town can affect different aspects of rural lifestyle, one of them is its effect on food security. Researches show that the range of effectiveness of such relations include property, the use of new technology, supporting relatives and acquaintances, availability of local markets, pricing policy and market access, development of off-farm income, and consequently, availability of foodstuffs, and increase of food variety and consumption that can all affect food security. Due to the increasing flow of urbanization in Zanjan County, in this research we are studying the economic rural-urban relations on food security. There are two main questions mentioned here: How is the security status of food among rural households? How can we define the economic rural-urban relations on food security?
Methodology This is an applied study which has been done using descriptive- analytical method of research. Rural households from villages of Zanjan County contain the statistical society of the present study. In 1390, there was 97225 villagers, 26429 rural households, 13 rural districts, and 248 inhabited villages in Zanjan County. Among these, a number of 14 villages have been selected as samples using modified Cochran formula. Since it was required to select 54 out of 248 villages to study in case analysis, all the 248 villages were checked to recognize how far they are from the urban area. Then, they have classified into 5 groups. Finally, using simple random sampling, due to the frequency of each population class, 54 of them have selected randomly. Those 54 villages, contain of 11662 rural households and a population of 289547 people. Because of using the household unit as the analytical unit of the research, the required number of then for accomplishing the questionnaires has been calculated 290 households within Cochran formula. The required data has been collected by the use of library and field (for questionnaires) methods. Data have been analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Mann-Whitney U and T groups). To calculate the amount of food security two methods of food insecurity scale and standard calories have been used.
Discussion and conclusion Findings from the study implies low food security within the studied rural households. Classifying food security within the rural households based on food insecurity scale indicates that only 31.1 percent of them are taking advantage of food security, the rest 68.9 % are struggling against food insecurity. The followings are reported according to the descriptive findings obtained due to the different times of rural household's visits to the town: 11.54 % visit the town once a week, 17.77% twice a week, 16.44% three times a week, 26.66% four times a week, and 27.59% five times a week or more. In other indicators, no significant effect has reported within the economic relations of villages and towns. Maybe it is because of the weak rural-urban relations within the studied areas. Therefore, the followings are suggested according to the new findings of the study:- By strengthening agricultural infrastructures in the villages of high environmental potentials it will be possible to accelerate the process of agricultural development of the studied area, create appropriate conditions for money-making, and improve food security.
- Considering the impact of direct selling of agricultural products on food security, the government can make a vital role by its broad support of guaranteed purchase of agricultural products to increase food security and incomes of rural households.
- In the studied villages, the improvement of rural routes and shops can increase the access of rural households to food.
- Development of tourist-oriented activities in high potential villages can provide a good condition of rural-urban relation formation.

Today، industry plays a pivotal role in development of a region، particularly development of poor areas. The important role may be resulted from the fact that production factors in industry sector compared with agriculture sector are more flexible relative to environmental-regional and national circumstances. Therefore، one of the strategies in development of rural settlements is to industrialize them by creation of industrial towns and areas in their vicinity. Presence of non-agricultural activities in the rural areas and income from the activities can facilitate rural development. Industrialization of rural areas with evolution in rural economy is a transformation from a state in which the population mainly involved in agriculture into a state in which the population is involved mainly in non-agriculture as major activity. Therefore، rural industrialization has a vital role in strategies and policies of developing countries. The research has investigated the influence of industrial towns surrounding the Abhar County on quality of life of the rural residents. From the rural districts of the area، the Humeh with 17 villages has been selected for the examination. This research is performed in a literature and survey method. We have used questionnaire tool for analysis of data. The villages of the rural area of Humeh are categorized in three groups of high populated، med-populated، and low populated. From the groups، the four villages of Nurin، Ghamchabad، Ghorveh، and Hesar Ghajar have been selected as samples. According to Cohran formula، the questionnaires were distributed among the villagers. Up to 304 questionnaires were distributed. Eight indices were designed in the questionnaire. These are employment and income، immigration، construction and housing، agriculture، environment، health، education، and participation. The reliability of the tool was tested by Chronback Alpha (0. 926). We have also used the views of geography and rural planning experts for validity assessment of the tool. The questions were in Likert scale. Finally، we have used one sample T test in SPSS to analyze the data. For quality of life assessment، the integration of all the villages has been assessed in each index and، then، they have been compared separately. The health index was positive due to better quality of services، better accessibility، and increase in the number of health practitioners in the area. Education index show significant positive effects on the area. Participation index has significant positive influence on the public participation. Employment and income in the villages with industrial towns in their surrounding were improved by increase in income، job creation، diversity of jobs، higher money saving، and expect to better employment condition. The industry in the rural areas increased the incentives for perdurability and residence in the areas، the industrial towns caused decrease in urban-rural migrations، increase in emigration of non-natives to the area، and increase in return of the villagers back to the area. Housing index show positive effects and caused increase in land price، better quality of building materials، and increase in construction projects. The towns had positive influence on decrease in the number of people involved in agriculture، decrease of livestock، and decrease in farmland area. The environment has experienced somewhat negative effect from the towns. Conclusion From the indices of quality of life in the villages، Sharifabad industrial town had the most positive influence upon the employment condition in the area. This may be due to attraction of work forces from surrounding rural areas. The improvements in the quality of life indices are mainly resulted from development in infrastructures. The negative effects of the town on the environment are not considerable. The health condition has experienced the least influence from the creation of the industrial town.

Air pollution is one of the most important environmental hazards in Tehran metropolitan that with understanding and cognition of factors which affecting pollution can reduce adverce effects of it. In order to reduce these effects, accurate studies on the basis of effective factors on pollutant is essential. The goal of this research is to analysis variation of air quality index(AQI) in relation to atmospheric conditions and traffic in Tehran. The Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis were used in order to compute the relationship between air quality indices(average and maximum) with traffic and meteorological variables. This study was done during 60 days (November,6th to January 5th) for the 2010 to 2012 years. The results revealed that atmospheric unstability index (ki-index) has the most impact on air pollution variations. Multiple linear regression  models for the year 2011 was the most accurate model to estimate maximum air quality index with the least relative deviation, RD (RD of -0.05 for first model and -0.1 for second one). An important achievement of this study was indirect correlation between number of vehicle and air quality index which is not happened to the reality. It seems that pollutant production in two cases including car’s movement or stop are quite different from each other and should be investigated using other methods.

For the time being، the status of women in any society is an indicator of a society progress; indeed more attention will be paid to this fact day in day، and international organizations and institutes which involved in development activities have put their emphasis on this subject. One of the main important approaches to improve the women status is to empower their situation in important aspects of life and particularly in economic. Therefore، the aim of this research was to investigate the women empowerment and their role in development of rural area economy.

This paper is a practical، and the study was descriptive- analytical is survey. In which two ways documentary and is survey (Questionnaires and interviews) is used to collect the data needed. The study population، are residing rural womens in the Kounani district in Kouhdasht County (10895) among them 330 people، were selected by simple random sampling.

The results of the study indicated that the highest level of women empowerment in economic sectors was related to agricultural activities، which had a direct and significant relation with age and income variables. It was also found that women، who had higher-level of empowerment، will be more capable of earning higher income. Research Limitation: One of the challenges of this study was to visit the area of the study and to prepare and fill out the questionnaire among rural women who were facing the traditional attitudes. Practical Implication: with conclude accurate recognition of women abilities in various fields of occupational and also to determine their potential and capabilities empowerment of، such interest، confidence، knowledge and expertise، local experience and knowledge، responsibility، and It is easier to achieve women''s empowerment. Original/value: achieve to women''s empowerment on the one hand can lead to a decrease in female unemployment and increase their ability to perform various activities، and on the other to improve social and economic conditions of their families and ultimately lead to rural development in various aspects.

Spatial structure of population is an important issue in regional studies. Iran population has unbalanced and unsuitable distribution. In some places population is dense and in some other areas it is sparse. The unbalanced and disproportional distribution can be attributed to various factors that can be divided into a variety of categories such as natural، economic، social، political، historical، cultural and etc. Development of car industries and promotion of trade، construction and development of rural areas and new towns in different ways has a new era of development and population displacement. Influx of rural migrants to urban areas and concentration of population in cities and small towns led to numerous inconsistencies in the distribution of population in Iran. The high population growth in one hand and the implications and consequences of large population on the other hand are important factors influencing population-based studies and population movements in the geographical areas. In this study، an attempt has been made to study the geographical areas with population change and effective factors. The consequences of this change are analyzed. The questions considered in this study are as follows: 1. Are crucial demographic factors such as population growth and the youth literacy rate in terms of active population and employment rates various in different areas? 2. Is the process of migration in recent decades influencing environmental policies and planning? Could the current trend of population distribution in different regions lead to an increase in the gap between wealthy and deprived areas? The method of this research is descriptive - analytic. To obtain information in the research we used library documents and statistics as materials. Then، demographic data were used individually and based on comparisons between different periods. According to the findings and discussions، the following research questions are discussed. 1. Are crucial demographic factors such as population growth and the youth literacy rate in terms of the active population and employment rates various in different areas? Population growth: based on the last General Population and Housing Census in 2011، population of Iran was 75. 149 million. This show an increase of 4. 65 million compared with 2006 Census. In other words، the annual population growth was 1. 2 percent in the same period. Young people: the young population increased from 2. 918 in 1956 to 17. 738 2006. The proportion of young population to total population to come in the year 1956 was 15. 4%، and for the year 1966 it was 15. 2%، for 1976 it was 19%، and for 1986 it was 19%، for 1996 about 25. 5%، and 25. 2% for 2006. The literacy rate: In Tehran province (83. 8 percent)، Semnan (80. 8 percent)، Isfahan (80. 2%)، Yazd (79. 2 percent) and Mazandaran (78. 4%) and the highest number allocated to 6 years old and more educated in provinces of Sistan and Baluchistan (57. 3 percent)، Azarbayjan- Gharby (69. 9 percent)، Kurdistan (70. 3 percent)، Khorasan Jonobi (71 percent)، Koohkiluyeh Boyer Ahmad (72. 9 percent). The lowest number has been 6 years and more literate. Growth rate of the active population is characterized byyoung and educated in Sistan- Baluchistan province. This shows the highest rate of population growth and lowest levels of education and low levels of the active population. The high percentage of unemployed is about 16. 8 percent. 2. Is the process of migration in recent decades influencing environmental policies and planning? Recent immigration trends are more in the provinces of Tehran، Khorasan Razavi and Isfahan. Due to unique political status، more income and employment opportunities، easy access and etc. Tehran has attracted the largest number of immigrants. Government policy was so that caused many people to migrate to Tehran because of more facilities available.. So، it is clear that immigration trends are influenced by environmental factors، and planning policies. 3. Could the current trend of population distribution in different regions lead to an increase in the gap between wealthy and deprived areas? Current trends indicate that the population distribution is mainly concentrated in metropolitan centers due to the concentration of material and social capital. Different migrant groups have a variety of living conditions. Most cities have immigration such as Tehran، Mashhad and Isfahan. The high populated areas have more job opportunities for people and attract more people from remote areas. The results showed that the distribution of population of Iran، from West to East and from North to South is influenced by environmental factors (topography، rainfall، soil and water resources and etc)، economic factors (income، employment opportunities، etc.)، political factors (government policies، government funding، etc.)، and social factors (migration، kinship ties، religious attractions، etc). The distribution of population may lead to different effects. For example، in some areas، increased migration of people to other areas has led to a situation that the facilities and services by public and private investments are left unused. The distribution of population density is increasing in some areas such as the provinces of Tehran، Gilan، Mazandaran. These increases in density could increase pressure on the utilization of resources and environmental damage. In this review، in the form of three questions listed above we have tried to check the movement of population and geographical areas and their consequences. The results show that the geographic distribution of the population is strongly influenced by environmental، economic، social، and political factors. Each of these aspects will consequently lead to different effects.

TThe study area included parts of the villages in Behabad، of Bafq County، Yazd Province، and pool research was conducted in 2008 and 2009. Research findings show that Rural Workers and Islamic Councils have relatively been successful in development of rural entrepreneurship، and local people believe that entrepreneurs، officials، experts and local commentators، Islamic Council and Rural Workers have properly provided the essentials of entrepreneurship development in rural areas such as entrepreneurial infrastructures، entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviors، cultural and social factors، attracting financial and economic resources. Therefore، the practices of Rural Workers and councils have been acceptable and led to the development of rural entrepreneurship. The policy of developing the popular participation in developmental programs can play an important role in the development of entrepreneurship. Due to the contexts and features that are suitably available in the rural environment، it is quite possible to form NGOs and organize them in different contexts. Organizations and nongovernmental organizations as institutions that represent different classes of people in the rural areas are very effective tools for development of entrepreneurship policies and accordingly could be responsive to unmet civil rights، needs، demands and expectations of various classes of society by providing the ground for innovation and entrepreneurship in different areas. They can also increase the transparency، reduce the bureaucracy corruption، facilitate downsizing، simplify regulations، and ultimately raise the efficiency and effectiveness of state management in rural development. To restore، improve or create such local people-centered organizations (in the villages and generally in national level) actually means democracy، assignment of affairs to people، decrease in government’s costs and responsibilities towards the rural management and also recruitment of public contributions in rural areas’ construction and developmental activities. These ultimately could lead to development of infrastructures، conditions and characteristics of rural entrepreneurship.

Transportation plays an important role in social development. The areas which have less access to transportation face large structural barriers in their process of social development. In this regard, the lack of access to transportation is major obstacle to achieve the sustainable rural development purposes. So access to transportation as an indicator of sustainable rural development can have different effects on indicators of social development in rural areas. This study examines the impact of the access to Sanandaj - Diwandareh road on improving social indicators of villages that located on the periphery of the road. Required data has been gathered by documents and field studies and questionnaire. In this regard first, social development index as the dependent variable was defined and designed in the form of 6 indicators. Then 64 items related to education, health, employment and income, social participation, social security and social services were defined to measure the indicators. The sample for investigation was 210 rural households and 14 local authorities of villages. The sample was selected and sorted randomly. For validity and reliability of the questionnaire we have used rural experts’ comments and Cronbach’s alpha test, respectively. Collected data were analyzed by independent and paired t-test. The results suggest an inverse relationship between the level of social development of the villages and their distances from the Sanandaj – Diwandarreh road. Also there is a significant difference between the status of social development indicators of villages that are located on the periphery of the axis and those which are located in 10 kilometers far from the road.

One of the main approaches to sustainable and balanced development is the dependence of rural management on people organizations. Rural Assistance Offices (RAO) are non government organizations established in accordance with a law approved by Iran's Islamic Parliament in 1998. They start their activities from 2003 aiming for sustainable integrated development for rural areas in the country. The statistical population consists of 30 rural assistance officers in Bostan Abad county. They discuss the areas of interest by forming a focus group. The statistical population is engaging actively in the collection and interpretation of data. The study recommends the training of managers with adequate knowledge of rural areas and local organizations, adequate project appraisal before the implementation, selection of strong officers neutral to tribal issues, consideration of people attitudes and satisfaction, necessity of cooperation between officers and other organizations, and delegation of more roles to officers with respect to rural issues.

The construction of industrial towns and regions are being considered as an important strategies regarding rural development. However, Iran is not an exception. It is being argued that by 2010, there exists 335 industrial regions. This in turn, could explain prominent changes associated with rural areas. The research method of this study is based on descriptive- analytical method. 50 out of 139 employed people were extracted. This study further is supported by application of McNamara and Wilcoxon non-parametric tests. This study suggests that there exists signification difference and variation with regard to income, variance in occupations, job satisfaction as well as security, improvement in nutrition and quality of life indices. However, there are not major significant variations regarding community participation, ownership, and rural inertia.

Urbanization in developing countries has caused many problems, such as increase in urbanization, lack of housing and employment, migration and stagnation of villages, and promoting villages to towns is one of the main policies to reduce these problems. Development of small and intermediate urban centers has, for the past several years, been canvassed by many scholars and international aid agencies as an appropriate middle course which combines the advantages of urban as well as rural development, without the shortcomings of excessive metropolitan growth or of the wide dispersal of limited resources in scattered rural villages too small to support basic services. Since the late 1970s and early 1980s, there has been a re-thinking of the nature and the impact of rural-urban linkages, with much emphasis placed upon the mutual dependency of rural and urban areas, and the critical role of town and city networks in the process of regional and local economic development. While some of the regional development literature tend to assume that small towns can be an almost ‘magic bullet’, their roles and functions need to be understood within the wider context of national, regional and international urban systems and policies. In Iran during the late half a century, one of the effects of urbanization on urban and population structure is the increase in the number of towns through promoting villages to towns, because there is a positive prospect about the role of promoting villages to towns in regional and local development. This research, based on the studies on Dailaman district, is going to assess the promotion of villages to towns in mountain regions from dimensions like economic prosperity, improvement of social and cultural indicators and promoting physical and environmental conditions. The type of the research is applied research and its method is descriptive-analytical. The sample (n=485) was selected by stratified random sampling technique from statistical society (N=3650); the sample consists of 192 heads of households from Dailaman town and 293 heads of households from its hinterland. Required information was collected through library studies, direct observations and questionnaires. The main tool for data collection was a researcher-designed questionnaire that had been produced according to research objectives. For analyzing the data, statistical methods such as Mean, Mann-Whitney Test and One-Sample T Test have been used. To achieve the purpose, three dimensions and 82 indicators were used such that 24 indicators were used to assess economical dimensions, 34 indicators to assess social-cultural dimensions and 24 indicators to assess physical-environmental dimensions. The Results of the research indicate that there is a meaningful difference between the views of the two groups about the functions of promoting villages to towns in regional development, and the promotion of villages to towns hasnt succeeded in economic prosperity, improvement of social-cultural indicators and promoting physical-environmental conditions in the region. In the case study, three important functions that a town can execute in its region have been assessed. The results of this research show that the promotion of villages to towns in regional development hasnt been successful. Most of the researches that have been done about the functions of small towns in the development of mountain regions concluded that these towns havent been successful in obtaining their objectives; for example researches of Bajracharya in Nepal (1995) and Saraee and Eskandari Sani in Iran (2007). The results of these researches confirm the viewpoints of Hinderink and Titus (2002), Satterthwaite and Tacoli (2003) and Tacoli (2006) who believe the positive functions of small towns shouldnt be generalized and they arent magic bullets. So the policy of promoting rurals to towns is not consistent with UFRD strategy in the region. Although the promotion of the village to town hasnt been successful in gaining its objectives in the studied region, it is inevitable, because some villages have the conditions of being towns, such as having a certain population. So it is necessary to make guidelines and criteria for promoting villages to towns. These guidelines and criteria should be flexible and in accordance with regional conditions and tendencies. So the policy of promoting rurals to towns is not consistent with UFRD strategy in the region. Although the promotion of the village to town hasnt been successful in gaining its objectives in the studied region, it is inevitable, because some villages have the conditions of being towns, such as having a certain population. So it is necessary to make guidelines and criteria for promoting villages to towns. These guidelines and criteria should be flexible and in accordance with regional conditions and tendencies.