Document Type : Research Paper
Author
Assistant professor of geography and rural planning, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Introduction
Transport is one of the most important activities and an essential component of the economy, which plays an important role in establishing spatial relationships between different locations and, like many existing networks, comprises a set of locations and links that represent inter-location communications. The most fundamental elements of a transportation network are network geometry and level of communication. Investing in transport infrastructure is one of the best ways to develop because economic development in any country requires investment in different sectors and economic activities and without it we cannot expect prosperity, the existence of rural roads and proper transportation play an important role in facilitating sales. And exports of agricultural products and rural products and provides a convenient way to market agricultural products easily. Unfortunately, in Iran, this sector has not been able to reach its true position and needs development and improvement, as many of the problems of rural and urban life are rooted in rural transport. In recent years, only efficient and effective planning can address rural transport issues, bring rural transport services into the area, improve the economic life and communication of the villagers, and solve many of the disadvantages of rural life. In rural areas of Ardebil city where a significant part of the population lives in rural areas, rural transportation and its improvement can improve the conditions and quality of life of the villagers and promote economic growth, rapid transfer of goods to market and immediate customer contact. This is because inadequate access to these areas leads to transportation, backwardness, unemployment and poor infrastructure, leading to rural migration to urban centers. Therefore, in view of the importance of the subject, the present study aimed to investigate the role of rural transport in the development of economic dimensions of rural areas in the central part of Ardebil city (Kalkhuran district) in order to answer the following questions:
• From the point of view of household heads, what is the state of transport in the villages?
• To what extent is the impact of rural transport components on the dimensions of economic development?
• What are the dimensions of economic development in the villages under study?
Methodology
The present study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in terms of the nature and method of the survey component. The statistical population of this study is 12 villages of Kalkhouran village in the central part of Ardabil city with 2946 households. The sample size was estimated to be 340 according to Cochran's formula, but since in some villages the sample size was below ten, the sample size was increased to 356 for better results. The distribution of samples in the villages was proportional to the number of households and the sampling method in each village was systematic random. In order to operationalize the research variables in the independent variable section, three indicators of transport quality, transportation services and rural transport infrastructure in the form of 15 indicators and in the dependent variable four indicators in the form of 23 indicators were used. The instrument used in this study was a closed-ended Likert-type questionnaire whose face validity was evaluated and modified by experts and finally confirmed. Its reliability was estimated 0.753 for Cronbach's alpha and 0.859 for Economic Development. Multivariate regression, one-sample t-test and finally fuzzy TOPSIS technique were used to classify the villages under study.
Results and discussion
After determining the weight of each rural transport indicator, fuzzy TOPSIS technique was used to classify the villages. After calculations, positive and negative ideals were identified. And then the sum of the distances of each village from the positive and negative fuzzy ideals, similarity index was calculated and the level of each village was determined. 0 is at the lowest level of the transport indicators. Multivariate regression coefficient was used to investigate the effect of rural transport on economic development to investigate the contribution of one or more independent variables to the dependent variable; The results showed that considering the significance level of the test with confidence level of 0.95 among the four indices of rural transport, transport infrastructure index with beta coefficient of 0.658 had the most effect on the dependent variable. Is 0.432 of the total variance of economic development. The results of one-sample t-test showed that the dimensions of economic development in the studied villages were desirable because the mean of economic, social and environmental dimensions was higher than 3 desirable (3 equals 60% of the respondents). The highest average (3.375) belongs to the index of job diversification and the lowest average is to economic stimulus.
Conclusion
The results of the research findings to answer these questions show that the role of transport is undeniable in the process of economic development of rural areas, but its indicators have different effects on economic dimensions, such as transport infrastructure index. And the narrative has had the greatest impact on explaining the dimensions of economic development. Diversification of jobs had the highest average, followed by increased income, increased investment of urban origin, and finally, economic excitement had the lowest average. The increase in the number of tourists and travelers to the area and the direct sale of rural products have had an impact on rural incomes, with rural transport having a greater tendency to cultivate marketable and guaranteed purchasing products, on the other hand to invest in industry and Rural services have increased and in addition reduced the cost of transporting goods and manufactured goods to the consumer market.
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