درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Purpose - Today, tourism is mentioned as a suitable approach for socio-economic and physical development in rural areas. Therefore, rural areas have capabilities and potentials in terms of tourist attractions; however, not all areas have the same capabilities for development. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the ecological potential of the study area and to find the relationship and alignment between tourism capacity and ecological potential in rural areas of Mashhad tourism sphere of influence. Design/methodology/approach - The present theoretical study was conducted with applied purposes using the descriptive-analytical method. GIS and SPSS software and CoCoSo multi-criteria decision-making model were used to analyze the data. Findings- According to research findings the most influential indicator was the distance to tourism water resources and the least influential indicator was the distance to fault. Therefore, the highest ecological potential belongs to the foothill villages of the study area. Also, in terms of tourism capacity, the most effective factors have been the natural attractions of the village and its suburbs and the quality of village road. Original/value - On this basis, the highest tourism potentials belong to villages of Pivehzhan, Virani, and Radkan, respectively. According to the results of the study there is a significant positive relationship between ecological potential of the studied villages and their tourism capacity and there is no relationship between the number of tourists and ecological potential of the studied villages.

Purpose - The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of improving the dimensions of social capital in the spatial evolution of rural settlements in Esfandagheh. Design/methodology/approach - This study is a quantitative survey conducted using questionnaires distributed among 400 households in 30 sample villages. Descriptive-analytical measures such as mean, variance, standard deviation, Kendall Tau-b correlation coefficient, and multiple regression were used to analyze social capital's status in the spatial evolution of rural settlements in the study area. Findings - The findings revealed that the six dimensions of social capital, including social awareness, social organizations and groups, social networks and relations, social participation, social cohesion, and social trust have a positive and significant relationship with the dimensions of the spatial evolution of rural settlements. Moreover, there is a positive and significant relationship between social capital and spatial development dimensions in the studied villages' four environmental-ecological, social, economic, and physical-infrastructural dimensions. Also, social awareness, social participation, social cohesion, social trust, social networks and relations, and social organizations and groups with a variance of 0.433% were explained as predictors of spatial changes in the Esfandagheh rural district. Research limitations/implications - The variable of social capital plays an essential role in the spatial transformation of rural settlements because improving the dimensions of spatial transformation regardless of the dimensions of social capital faces a crucial challenge. In other words, social capital is influential in various areas of life, from the local and micro-level to the national and macro-level; it can empower the villagers in dealing with the socio-economic problems of their village. Practical implications - Paying attention to the dimensions of social capital in terms of approaches and planning and policy-making system of rural development and subsequently emphasizing the status of social capital as one of the most important intangible assets to improve the spatial evolution of rural settlements. Originality/Value - This study investigated the effects of all dimensions of social capital on all four dimensions of geographical space. In such a way, the attention of policymakers and development planners to the outcome of this research provides a more effective planning ground for developing the rural space based on people's views and the conditions of each region.