آئیژ عزمی

Purpose- Environmental issues such as the ecological footprint, are the product of intellectual, cultural, and economic factors. Therefore, it is necessary to know the variables effective on the amount of the footprint. The main objective of the present study is to investigate the factors affecting the ecological footprints of the rural settlements in Eslamabad-e Gharb County with a holistic and spatial approach. Design/methodology/approach- The present study is an applied one regarding the objective and descriptive-correlational regarding the methodology. In terms of the data collection method, it is a field survey. The statistical population includes 25% of the villages in Eslamabad-e Gharb County (40 villages). The sample size was determined as 500 households based on the latent and observable variables. The Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data. Also, the Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) was used to investigate the effects of the locative-spatial factors on the research variables.Findings: The results of the Bootstrap test based on the T values indicated that the variables “ownership”, “environmental awareness”, and “consumerism” had the highest t-value and thus, were most correlated. The variable “ownership” in the economic structure is more correlated with the ecological footprint of the researched villages than other independent variables with a statistic of 26.053. overall, the analysis of the direct and inverse correlations in the SEM indicated that the variables “ownership” and “employment” were the most effective factors on the ecological footprint with coefficients of 0.874 and 0.575, while the “conspicuous consumption” was the least effective variable. Also, the results of spatial regression showed that the villages in the northwest of the county were more effective while moving towards the southeast and getting distant from the center reduces the effectiveness of the research variables on the ecological footprint.Research limitations/implications- The high rate of employment in the agricultural sector, the weakness in environmental issues training, and the high rate of livestock and agricultural ownership among a limited number of people have created obstacles on the road to the ecological sustainability of the region.Practical Solutions: Directing the residents of the researched villages towards non-agricultural employment by providing appropriate facilities and support, promoting an environment-friendly lifestyle, and training the residents to increase their environmental awareness by holding workshops in this field.Originality / Value: The present study is the first to use the SEM and spatial approach to investigate the factors effective on the ecological footprints of rural settlements. The results obtained can aid the planners and decision-makers in the field of rural settlements to advance the goals of sustainable development.

Purpose- The project of valuable rural texture was proposed with the aim of rehabilitating the tourist villages with valuable physical features. Since the project aimed at developing tourism in tourist villages and preserving the local and cultural features of these areas, conducting a research to study the dimensions and effects of rehabilitation of valuable rural texture on rural tourism was of great importance. Therefore, the present study aimed to study the rehabilitation of valuable rural texture and its effect on tourism in the village of Hajij, Kermanshah, Iran. Design/methodology/approach- The two groups of population involved in rehabilitation of the rural residential texture were the local people and the tourists. The tools used in this study to collect data were applied, quantitative, and survey methods. The statistical population consisted of 300 tourists and 95 local people. Findings- The results showed that the rehabilitation of rural valuable texture had positive effects on development of rural tourism. The four variables of attraction of tourists, providing local services to tourists, affecting the performance of governmental and non-governmental organizations and institutions, and the advertising role of rehabilitation of dilapidated texture have been influenced by valuable textures. Local people and tourists were satisfied with the rehabilitation project and reported its great effect on the village. Practical implications- This study showed that the rehabilitation project of rural valuable texture caused harmony and agreement between the village's new texture and body and its traditional and local texture. Furthermore, rehabilitation of valuable texture gravitated the tourists' attention to the village and increased local employment. Nonetheless, there were challenges to the rehabilitation project of valuable rural texture. One of the most important challenge was the adverse effect of rural tourism on the village's environment, causing pollution and destruction of natural environment.

Purpose- The purpose of the present study was to investigate the causes and factors affecting the improvement of rural housing quality (case study: Oraman District, Sarvabad County). Design/methodology/approach- The present study is an applied research in terms of purpose and has a descriptive-analytical nature. Also, in terms of data collection method, it is a documentary-survey research. In the present study, the quality of rural housing was assessed to evaluate the effective factors in improving the quality of rural housing using the relevant indicators. The statistical population of the study was the Oraman District with 2468 households. The samples of the study were selected by simple random method, and the sample size of 345 households was obtained using the Cochran sampling formula. Finding- The results showed that the economic, physical, social and management factors (P <0.000) are effective in improving the quality of housing in Oraman villages. Also, according to the rating level of the indices, the physical dimension with the mean rating of (3.91) has the highest effect and the management dimension with the mean rating of (1.00) has the lowest effect. Research limitations/implications- Due to the low cooperation of local people and the cultural, ethnic and political sensitivities in the region, this study encountered numerous limitations and difficulties during the distribution of the questionnaire which challenged the research work. Originality / value- The earthquake happened in Western Iran destroyed many homes and killed many people, emphasizing the importance and quality of housing. Given that there has been no research on housing, especially its quality in this area, therefore, investigating the factors contributing to the improvement of housing quality in the future can reduce many of the human and financial losses.