Journal of Geography and Regional Development
Year:2016 | Volume:13 | Issue:2 (25)|Papers Count:15

Given its role in decreasing poverty, today tourism is known as an important factor in the development of villages and rural areas. As compared with other economic sectors, tourism has a number of advantages; it is known as a panacea for economy a solution for improving life quality in distant areas, motivation for the revitalization of settlements, a factor in improving the living conditions of rural communities, and a catalyst for, economic and social reconstruction and development. The present study investigates the effects of tourism on the development of rural areas in Golestan Province with its numerous natural, cultural and historical sites.

Today the irregular growth of the population and its illogical distribution across natural and cultural environments of different communities has necessitated sustainable development in response to the unstable conditions of cities. Mashhad is a city with fast growth and development but with no clear plan, especially after land reform program. In this sense, the city is now extremely under the influence of dangerous outcomes of this ill fast growth, having a large number of environmental, social, and economic implications. So far, several designs of development have been developed for the city; however, despite taking such decisions, disperse urban growth and its implications still exist due to lack of scientific attention to urban growth and lack of proper theoretical patterns.Therefore, it seems that urban smart growth strategy, as a response to the sprawl, could improve the quality of the urban environment in Mashhad. The aim of this paper is to determine the rank and smart urban growth indices of the twelve districts of Mashhad based on the use of fuzzy logic. In this article, we will answer two main questions: 1) How does each district in Mashhad enjoy the indices of smart urban growth indicators? 2) Is there inequality between different districts of Mashhad regarding the integrated indicators of smart urban growth.

Neo-tectonics is the study of horizontal and vertical motions of Earth’s crust originating from the late periods of Neogen and Quaternary. Many researchers have defined tectotecnic as “the beginning of Earth’s crust motions after the earliest orogenic phase” (Stipancikova et al., 2008, p.68). Since there is no possibility of having access to the old seismic reflection data in many areas and some methods of measuring active tectotecnics are very expensive (seismic methods), the use of morphometric indexes to detect and determine the active tectonics is of great importance. Therefore, “geomorphic indexes are useful materials to analyze Earth’s forms and to measure the tectotecnic activities in many areas” (Guarnier & Pirrota, 2008, p.265).

Temperature leaves undeniable effects on human activities and natural processes. The analysis of average maximum temperature and the highest temperatures related to the heat wave phenomenon is of great importance. The most important goals of this study include the investigation of the geographical distribution of the maximum average temperatures and extreme temperatures based on the time series and the gathered trends, changes, and differences with regard to the ripples and geographical latitude. Average maximum temperatures and the highest temperatures are the temperature variables that their increase or decrease affects the related decisions and the short-term and long-term planning in agriculture, architecture and urban development, Industry, and Labor. This study investigates maximum temperatures of Iran between 2005-1966, then, it offers the time changes and geographical patterns in the form of zoning patterns.

Climate change refers to the increase or decrease in the average climatic factors over a long period of time (i.e. more than 30 years). Today, climate change has become a human concern and the scientific community are already aware of this fact. Global temperature has followed an unprecedented increase over the last hundred years. Based on synoptic climatology, climatic parameters and its changes are related to atmospheric patterns. In the atmospheric upper levels, the role of dynamic factors and atmospheric circulation is dominant (Alijani, 2006; Yarnal, 1993). ”Understanding climate change through atmospheric patterns is closer to reality.

Today strengthening middle-sized cities in the developing countries for the sake of developing surrounding areas and distributing services and facilities in rural areas has occupied a special place in urban planning. The purpose of strengthening and developing middle cities is to enhance the economy of rural areas and prevent the immigration of villagers to big cities, and to spread the benefits of economic growth in deprived areas. The current article sets out to ascertain to what extent Iranshahr as a middle-sized city has been successful in distributing the population, services, and facilities, in developing the surrounding rural areas, and in creating the sustainable development between Iranshahr and the rural areas in its sphere of influence.

Green spaces and urban parks are very important due to their recreational uses and also their role in maintaining the ecological balance of urban citizenship. Given the increasing demand for the use of parks and public green spaces, the analysis of the factors affecting demands in terms of economic and social can help to predict the recreational and entertaining needs. However, the parks are failed to pricing market and valuation. So, willingness to pay (WTP) as an economic tools- the amount of money that the consumer intend to pay for the use of the services - can be a guide for market pricing particularly for non-market services.

The peri-urban villages are scenes of the formation, growth, and the continuity of opportunities and threats affecting the environmental quality and the way of supplying the needs of residents. Thus, assessing the livability of these villages as a new concept is of great importance in the literature of settlement planning. The study areas in this study include the peri-urban villages in the city of Varamin and in the vicinity of four cities in this region. What is considered in this study is the individual variables affecting the perception of livability in the peri-urban villages of Varamin located in Tehran Metropolis.

Land use suitability assessment is necessary to prevent and imporove environmental issues. Land use planning provides a basis for decision making in spatial planning and land-use management. Selecting the appropriate land-use type and pattern according to ecological suitability of lands is the main purpose of watershed management and can lead to the control and decrease of the undesirable effects of natural disasters. Land-use planning provides the basis for considering the land management and also the natural and anthropogenic hazards necessary for the developmental process of land management. The arranement of relationships among people, land and human activities, and the sustainable utilization of human and environmental resources is important to improve the material and spiritual conditions of the community wellbeing over time, which is one of the main objectives of ecological potential assessment.

The flow of tourism develops depending on the supply of tourism product. Resorts and residential centers are one of the main factors attracting tourists in order to use the tourism product of a region. Optimal locating of residential centers, especially in cities and areas which are in the way of passing tourists, has an important role in the visitors’ using of these centers. Bojnord and its surrounding areas have a high potential for supplying tourism products to different social classes at the national and international level, including their pathway connecting the east to the northeast areas, especially Mashhad, and to the northern beaches, their annual passing of millions of tourists, their eye-catching nature, and their cultural and historical tourist attractions.

Ascent rainfall mechanism is “one of the most important factors in leading to various rainfall behaviors in different regions, such as various atmospheric precipitation seen in different time scales” (Masoompour, Miri, Zolfaghari, & Yarahmadi, 2013, p.299). In fact, some of them can be called atmospheric phenomena due to their special nature. One of these atmospheric phenomena is thunderstorm. Not only this storm and its accompanying phenomena like lightening, tornado, hail, strong winds, and heavy precipitation (see Changnon, 1925, 2001), but also atmospheric hazard phenomena in aviation, such asturbulence, frost, and wind shear (Tajbakhsh et al., 2009) cause remarkable damage to human and natural environments. Therefore, recognizing the features of these phenomena has been attracting the attention of researchers.