Introduction

Unbalanced population growth and limited urban space are considered a major challenge for today's societies. This imbalance not only reduces the quality of life but also puts additional pressure on natural resources and the environment. The creative village approach as a new concept can be considered in the post-modern space to meet rural needs and combat rural isolation of peri-urban spaces. In the meantime, the idea of a creative village as a complement to a creative city can be an effective step towards creating a demographic balance and sustainable development. The concept of a creative village has a cultural dimension and a set of possibilities and opportunities. A creative village is an intercultural place that focuses on different experiences, combining cultures, and exchanging programs and ideas with each other. A creative village is a sustainable and viable space that creates a platform for attracting and developing the creative class in low-tech industries, mainly in the fields of culture and art. The village relies on ecological processes including local lifestyle, clean environment and necessary equipment. The village provides equal benefits to the rural community, its creative class and the consumer of rural creative products.



Methodology

The research method is descriptive-analytical and applied from the perspective of the purpose. The statistical population of rural households in Belsbaneh rural district is the Kouch-e-Safhan district of Rasht city. The total number of villages in Belsbaneh rural district is 24 villages, so each of the 24 villages was surveyed. From this number, 384 samples were taken according to the share of each household. The total number of households is 5819, and 384 samples were taken according to the Cochran model. The collection of data is documentary and survey. The questionnaire indicators were obtained by studying the theoretical foundations. The validity of the questionnaire was examined with the opinions of professors and its reliability was obtained with Cronbach's alpha of 0.839. SPSS software was used to analyze the questionnaire data and it was analyzed with binomial tests, Friedman, Yeoman-Whitney, and Kruskal-Wallis. To examine the normal distribution of the data, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests were used.



Result and discussion

The situation of the villages studied in terms of accepting new values, innovation in agriculture, people's desire for past cultural values, and preserving indigenous beliefs is at a desirable level. By providing suitable conditions for entrepreneurial activities, creating diverse and workshop jobs, and providing suitable facilities and conditions for handicraft producers, the areas for creativity and perseverance of individuals to launch new activities in the village will increase. The findings showed that the highest average is related to the flexibility index (3.41) and the lowest average is related to the promotion and education index (2.41). Most villages are in a good situation in terms of the flexibility and innovation component in agriculture and accepting new ideas and values by the village people. The low level of the promotion and education index indicates that sufficient training has not been provided in the field of facilitating educational and cultural activities in the village and entrepreneurial plans to attract creative ideas.

Based on the results of the Friedman test, it can be said that among the six indicators of the creative village (flexibility, innovation, promotion and education, risk-taking, leadership and participation), the flexibility index has a higher average rank (5.52) and the promotion and education index has the lowest average rank with a value of (2.05). The high average rank of the flexibility component indicates that the people of the village have had sufficient flexibility and adaptability to changes in their living environment and the acceptance of new technology and values. Also, the low average rank of the promotion and education component indicates that the necessary training in the field of creative activities and rural entrepreneurship plans has not been carried out, and also in the field of creative ideas related to the village (honey beekeeping, and the production of fruit products, etc.) there has not been sufficient advertising through cyberspace and the media.



Conclusion

The villages under study have a favorable situation in terms of the flexibility index. The leadership index has the lowest average rank with a value of (35/80). Therefore, local managers should perform better in providing services and supporting the formation of a creative village and increase people's awareness of carrying out creative activities. Also, appropriate measures should be taken by managers in the field of communication infrastructures available at the village level. Therefore, it can be concluded that according to the Kruskal-Wallis test, there is a significant difference between the research indicators. The leadership index has had the least effect on rural creativity, and the indicators of initiative, promotion and education, risk-taking, and participation have a mediating role in the effect. The results of this study are consistent with the results of the study by Jahan Tigh et al. (2021). The efforts of local managers to hold training courses to create entrepreneurship and job diversity have not been carried out properly. Legal obstacles to carrying out artistic activities have not been removed. Therefore, the inability of managers to guide the village for the creativity of residents has caused the way of providing services to the people to be inappropriate and there are still obstacles to carrying out creative activities.