مصطفی طالشی

Purpose- Rural areas experience various economic and social tensions such as population instability and limited job opportunities, which place villages at risk. Rural tourism can improve the economic activities that increase the population and improve the economy because tourism transforms a fragile economy with dynamic activities that enable the establishment of service enterprises and bring about entrepreneurship opportunities. This study aimed to model the multilateral effects of tourism on rural sustainability. Design/methodology/approach- This research applied the theoretical-pragmatic approach. Data were collected using library and field studies. Field studies are a prominent element in the analysis of results. In this course, the systematic questionnaire was used for the extraction of the field database. Using the Cochran formula, the sample size was estimated 214 people. Furthermore, the interrelationship Structural Equation Model (SEM) was applied to analyze the networks of variations. Also, path analysis and partial least squares regression model was adopted to model the interrelationship between the variables observing the systematic nature of the sustainability approach. Findings- Tourism is an accelerating tool in rural permanency. It stimulates the stability of the population, cultural similarities, and promotion of rural culture, which subsequently establish rural sustainability. On the other hand, as land use change is acknowledged as one of the unfavorable consequences of tourism, support for the environmental aspect is mentioned as a necessary factor for sustainability. Tourists should also recognize the eminent function of the environment in rural settlements to ensure that promoting the entire aspect of sustainability results in rural stabilization. Practical implications- Specifically, tourism develops social solidarity through the formation of micro-businesses and particular rural entrepreneurship that directly and indirectly contribute to the expansion of job creation in rural settlements. Also, these mechanisms are involved in producing local capital that strengthens sustainable rural income and livelihood. On the other hand, tourism highlights the significance of the environment, and its protection is essential to the rural sustainability.

Purpose: One of such changes is the rural sprawl and its physical-spatial consequences in rural areas and their surrounding lands which has led to land use change in agricultural lands, gardens and less planed physical changes. Design/methodology/approach: This study was conducted in a descriptive-analytical method using field works, regular interviews and monitoring of satellite images and GIS maps. This study sought to identify and explain the natural consequences of rural sprawl in the physical area of villages and their surroundings during a 20-year period from 1995 to2016. The study area included 24 large rural settlements around Hamadan County with an average rural population of 2,800 people in areas with farmlands and gardens. Finding: The findings showed that rural sprawl has resulted in unplanned proximity and intermingling of rural-urban functions in rural settlements, physical changes in surrounding rural settlements, changes in diversity and composition of rural land uses, changes in physical structure of rural areas, and increased number of single-family residential units and villas. Research limitations/implications: Difficulty in gathering data about the rural areas’ physical changes and access to data and documentation of some organizations and interviews with some groups were among the challenges of the study. Practical implications: Management based on settlement systems of suburban towns and villages in the form of rural-urban ties and metropolitan area of Hamadan (in macro level), integrated management based on legal limits of the villages and their immediate areas, regulatory and more planned intervention through compliance of the uses with the structures and functions of the villages were some of the recommendations in the managerial and planning level. Originality/value: There have been a limited number of studies on emerging concepts and phenomena in the villages surrounding the metropolises and big cities. Therefore, it was necessary to conduct a study and discuss the consequences of rural sprawl as a phenomenon in villages round cities.