ارزیابی مؤلفه های اقتصادی- اجتماعی پایداری در مناطق روستایی( مطالعه موردی: استان ایلام)

Introduction

Socio-economic sustainability, as one of the main pillars of sustainable development, plays a vital role in ensuring the long-term well-being of societies and maintaining a balance between economic growth and social justice. This concept examines the complex interactions between economic factors (such as income, employment, and productivity) and social factors (such as equitable distribution of resources, poverty reduction, and community participation). Assessing these components not only helps policymakers design development programs more comprehensively, but also paves the way for achieving sustainable goals such as reducing inequality and improving the quality of life. One of the serious challenges of rural settlements in developing countries is the issue of socio-economic sustainability, which, despite its systematic relationship with environmental sustainability, has largely been overshadowed and dominated by it and has been less independently conceptualized and studied. These two dimensions, to which a significant portion of the instability of rural settlements in the country is related, emphasize more than anything else the concept of intergenerational justice. Because perpetuating deprivation cannot be our goal, and we cannot ignore today's deprivation under the pretext of caring for future generations. Premature death, disease, malnutrition, illiteracy, poverty, etc. show that today's world has failed to provide equal opportunities for all. While sustainable development as a systemic concept is as much about the future as it is about the present.

Methodology

This research aims to evaluate and examine the socio-economic components of sustainability in rural areas; therefore, the type of research is applied and descriptive-analytical in nature and method. To analyze the data in SPSS software, the one-sample t-test statistical method was used, and finally, the Kopras technique was used to accurately evaluate the components of socio-economic sustainability and rank rural areas based on these components. The statistical population of this study was selected from 378 villages with more than 20 households using a geographic information system, 37 villages were selected as a sample, and 250 questionnaires were completed by villagers during the period 2019-2020. The reliability of the questionnaire was measured through Cronbach's alpha in SPSS software, which indicates that the data is satisfactory for conducting the research. The results are listed as 0.928 for economic and social indicators, respectively.

Findings

Analysis of the numerical mean resulting from calculating the effective socio-economic factors in rural areas using a one-sample t-test shows that socio-economic factors are effective on the sustainability of these areas. By examining the average values obtained from the analysis of the questionnaire data, it was found that social factors (social participation with an average of 3.1646, social cohesion with an average of 3.1737, and social security with an average of 3.3575) had an impact higher than the average, and social factors such as social trust and economic factors of rural investment and cost-income among rural residents, considering that the upper limit is positive and the lower limit is negative, it can be said that these factors are in the average range and can be considered as almost effective factors. Also, the other factors in the study indicate that the average values obtained from the limit (3) are low. So that at a significant level, their difference from numerical desirability in most of the research components has been evaluated and estimated negatively. Also, to examine the status of rural settlements in terms of socio-economic sustainability, the Kopras model has been used as one of the multi-criteria decision-making methods. According to the calculations, villages that have a favorable socio-economic status have a higher Q value than other rural areas. Finally, all the villages studied were placed in three categories: favorable, semi-favorable, and unfavorable in terms of socio-economic sustainability.

Discussion and Conclusion

According to studies, achieving socio-economic sustainability in rural areas by improving its constituent indicators and components, as well as the factors affecting it, paves the way for improving the social and economic capacities of rural residents and provides the ability of rural communities to optimally utilize natural, social, and economic resources in line with sustainable development goals. The first question seeks to assess the status of rural settlements in the study area in terms of socio-economic sustainability. Therefore, the results of ranking the villages (which were classified into three desirable, semi-desirable and undesirable conditions) using the Kopras technique showed that out of the 37 villages studied, 5 villages, Zarangosh, Chamab, Shahrak, Nabuwwat, Kalan and Jafarabad, have a desirable status in terms of the total socio-economic indicators, which of course do not show much difference with other villages in the area, and the others are in semi-desirable and undesirable conditions. In general, and considering the examination of the socio-economic sustainability situation in the study area, it should be said that social sustainability is somewhat more suitable, but economic sustainability is not as expected and is weak. By examining the studies conducted in the field of economic sustainability, it was found that the country's villages are not in a favorable situation in terms of economic indicators, and by promoting and improving various economic indicators, instability in these areas should be prevented and suitable and sustainable conditions should be provided. The area under study is not an exception to this discussion and requires the promotion of sustainability indicators, especially economic sustainability. Similarly, the second research question seeks to identify the most important socio-economic factors affecting socio-economic sustainability with the aim of improving the standard of living of people in rural areas and reducing the gap between rural and urban inequalities, paying attention to socio-economic infrastructures such as social participation, social trust, security, increasing employment, increasing production, increasing income, etc. in achieving sustainability, and also which of these factors have the greatest impact on the sustainability of the region. In this section, a one-sample t-test was used to answer the aforementioned questions. In response to these questions, it should be said that many socio-economic factors can affect the sustainability of the region, but in the results of this study, social factors, which mostly include social capital, had a higher than average impact, but economic factors in the region were very weak and below average.