Analysis of the status of livability indicators in the rural-urbans around Hamedan city (Case: Darreh Murad Beyg, Sheverin and Heydareh peri-urban settlements)

Introduction

Livability is one of the emerging subjects in rural planning, which, similar to other recent theories such as capablity, stablity and resilient settlements, leads us towards having a more favorable environment for life and development (Yegane et al., 2021: 81). Livability is a concept that comprises intertwining of social, economic and environmental dimensions involving a network of relationships between the relevant criteria (Imani et al., 2022: 75). However, what is certain is that sustainable rural livability can be enahnced through increasing social awareness, social cohesion, mutual relations and social networks, building trust and improving local people's participation in environmental, economic and social programs.The adaptability of rural areas has a significant impact (Johnmint and Mons, 2011).In the plans and programs that are compiled with the aim of developing rural areas, they do not directly influence the actors, but they create changes in them to adapt to different conditions and contexts. Therefore, successful policies are those that have a good adaptation to organizational habits,beliefs,culture and institutional background (Esmaili Dastjardi et al., 2013).In fact, the sustainability of living in villages is different according to their spatial conditions. Therefore, planning for them should be done in accordance with their specific requirements and in relation to other settlements based on their spatial role (Riahi et al., 2015: 158).Due to the weak efficiency of past implemented strategies, nowadays government policies for the development of residential places have been taken into account and awareness of residents' perception for livability has become more important. In this regard, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating and comparing the livability indicators of the area studied in this study(Heidareh,Moradbeg and Sheverin) around Hamadan city in order to obtain appropriate information about the current situation of these areas to provide future appropriate plans/programs to the policy makers and practitioners.



Methodology

The current study as a practical resreach was impelemented in quantitative research in terms of nature and descriptive-survey in terms of collecting information. The statistical population of this research included 3900 households living in the three mentioed areas including: Heidareh, Murad-beg and Sheverin villages in the surrounding of Hamadan city. In order to determine the sample size based on Cochran's formula, 246 households were selected Proportional assignment method and withing each village were randomly selected among the residents. In addition to a deep overvies and documentry study, necessary data and information were gathered using a questionnaire.The questionnaire included two parts of personal and occupational characteristics and questions related to rural livability indicators in five dimensions (social-cultural, economic, institutional-management, environmental and physical-infrastructural) based on past studies and was designed in a Likert scale format. In this research, SPSS25 and Smart PLS4 software were used to process the collected data in two parts of descriptive and inferential statistics (one-way variance analysis, correlation analysis, sample t-test and structural equation modeling).

Results and discussion

The results of the descriptive evaluation of the level of rural livability in three case studies showed that the level of livability in Sheverin village from the point of view of people evaluated at a good level (32.53 percent), Heidareh village at moderate level (42.85 percent) and Murad-Beyg village also at a moderate level (46.47%) was evaluated. In relation to the degree of correlation between some independent variables with the dependent variable of the livability of the studied cases, the correlation coefficients showed a positive and significant relationship between the variables of non-agricultural income, distance to the city and the number of services with the livability level variable in such a way that with the increase of non-agricultural income, the number of services and the decrease of the distance to the city, the livability level is improved. Also one-way variance analysis showed that there is a significant difference between the studied villages (Sheverin, Moradbeg and Heidareh) in terms of livability indicators. In all components, there was a significant difference between the village of Sheverin and the villages of Murad-beg and Heydareh. However, no significant difference was observed between the two villages of Morad-beg and Heydareh in terms of livability. In all dimensions, Sheverin village has a higher average than Murad-beg and Heydareh villages, and this difference has been reported to be significant in all dimensions. The model for measuring the effective factors of livability was analyzed and interpreted from the respondents' point of view. The results show that among the investigated indicators, the physical-infrastructural index with path coefficient(0.318), economic(0.295), social -Cultural(0.264), environmental(0.106) and institutional-management factor (0.081) had the greatest impact on livability, respectively.



Conclusion

In this study, villages on the surrounding of Hamadan city were compared and evaluated in terms of livability indicators. The results of the qualitative survey of the level of rural livability from the respondents' point of view showed that the level of livability in the village of Sheverin is at a good level and in the villages of Heidareh and Murad-beg is at an average level. The results of the analysis of variance showed that Shevein village has a higher average than the villages of Moradbeg and Heidareh, and it was evaluated as more livable.In terms of the number of services provided and available in the villages, Sheverin has the largest number of infrastructure services(9 items) and the most necessary places(7 items) compared to the other two villages.Also, in terms of economy and income, it had a better situation due to the existence of industrial workshops and small households.The findings of the research regarding the viability measurement model showed that the values of the measured indicators had an appropriate value. The modeling findings showed that in the dependent variable of rural livability,physical-infrastructural factors with a path coefficient of 0.318, economic with a path coefficient of 0.295, social-cultural factors with a path coefficient of 0.264, environment with a path coefficient of 0.160, and institutional factors respectively 0.081 had the greatest effect. Therefore,by knowing the level of influence of each of these components and prioritizing them and planning in the direction of improving these components, the level of sustainability in the studied villages can be increased.