Journal of Geography and Regional Development
Year:2018 | Volume:16 | Issue:1 (30)|Papers Count:12

Introduction Democracy is known as the lawful management of a political society which is executed through the mechanism of transferring the will of population to governance for the administration of countries. Elections are, indeed, considered as the most significant manifestation of democracy. In a democratic society, the right to vote followed by the right to choose or dismiss governments is the most basic civil right. However, it should be noted that the outcome of elections rarely expresses the pure, logical outlook of voters as geography plays a role of utmost importance in this regard. In fact, the outcome of various elections is influenced by spatial and geographical variables at individual and social levels; additionally, there are factors and actors at local, regional, national, and even international levels that affect the outcome of elections. In truth, local factors affect people’ s decision-making in elections while the geographical structure of voting systems indicate the outcomes...

Introduction Today, it is accepted that the occurrence of any change in the climatic system is important in water and soil resources management. Climate fluctuations have had irreparable effects on water and soil resources of Khorasan Razavi area, especially in Mashhad. Hence, the attitude towards the future is considered as one of the essential requirements for metropolitan and regional management. In order to provide an outlook from future changes of extreme events, especially precipitation, the output of models of atmosphere general circulation (HadCM3, CNCM3, NCCCSM) are used based on A1B, and A2 scenarios under the LARS-WG model for the two upcoming periods of 2011-2030 and 2046-2065. The studied rainfall indices in this research include PRCPTOT, R10mm, R20mm, R95p, R99p, RX1day, RX5day, and SDII...

Introduction Since the main theme of any geographical analysis is the emphasis on space and its environmental concepts, any change in the relationship between humans and the urban environment can be considered as the final product of the human desire to change their settlement areas to overcome the environmental and spatial nature of the city. In this context, spatial change in the urban environment can be considered as a socio-economic, environmental, political and spatial policy function that in different periods of time, according to its various conditions, have had different impacts on the urban space and it will provide the concepts of space and urban environment with fundamental changes. On this basis, paying attention to the urban environment challenges and trying to solve them are of essential importance. The Natural Step has pioneered a "Back casting from Principles" approach which means to advance society towards greater sustainability (Whole-systems thinking and back casting from sustainability principles form the basis for numerous applications and tools to plan and redesign organizational strategy, organizational processes, product/service innovation, and business models)...

Introduction Welfare is one of the important socioeconomic subjects presented in texts related to economy. Welfare provision is one of the most important purposes in any economic system; offering proper living conditions for the entire strata of societies is considered as the major duty of governments. To achieve such a goal, governments employ different tools; in this regard, granting subsidies is an important way of income transfer, supporting low-income strata, fair distribution of income, and a means for improving the efficiency of poverty mitigation programs and other plans for providing social support to vulnerable strata. Such a strategy could only achieve said purposes if it is regulated and governments are obligated to execute it. Despite how granting cash subsidies was predicted to increase the benefits and welfare of low-income strata, particularly in rural communities, it appears to be unexpectedly worsening the welfare of such strata due to inflation growth and a rise in the price of essential goods and food, which constitute a major share of expenses of low-income households. By drawing a link between cash subsidies and welfare indices, it has been attempted in the present study to evaluate and assess the degree of effectiveness of cash subsidies on the welfare of rural families and recommend a set of suitable strategies for future policy-making...

Introduction In many countries nowadays, the use of diverse, various human-environmental abilities against single dimensional capabilities have been perceived as a necessity in order to offer comprehensive, sustainable development. One of the means to achieve this purpose is to study and implement tourism development programs at local, national, and international levels. The tourism industry entails significant potentials in historical, cultural, and environmental contexts, a part of which is tourism or exploiting geological and geomorphological potentials. The diversity and vastness of geological zones and geomorphological phenomena across Iran are fairly abundant; subsequently, in addition to the identification of such phenomena, conducting studies and drawing precise, systematic plans are steps toward regional and national development. The major purpose of this study is to evaluate the tourism potential of Uramanat region with focus on geomorphological forms and processes in line with regional development, the necessity of which during the current period is to conserve this inheritance followed by a proper operation in order to create jobs, increase incomes, and prevent population migration, especially in rural regions...

Introduction Rainfall is the most significant phenomenon or feature of the environment. The factors causing rainfall have been the subject of numerous studies. Both the rainy or very dry years have considerable impact on the quality of humans’ living environments. Rainfall occurs when there is enough moisture as an effective factor. Both of these conditions are provided through circulation patterns of the atmosphere. The purpose of the present study is to identify the circulation patterns and factors causing rain showers in the mountainous regions of Iran (i. e. Southern Alborz and Eastern Zagros mountain range); moreover, it is attempted to explain how they are formed, during which period of the year they could evolve more significantly, and at what times they occur in the region, along with their similarities and differences...

Introduction Today, the growth of urbanization and industrial development in various aspects of human life has led to an increase in its need for recreation and tourism. Tourism is one of the human activities that is growing as new functions of the spaces with different economic, social and environmental dimensions, but these dimensions do not only apparent positively and desirably, and along with benefits, they have negative outcomes and effects. The most important positive effects of tourism on host societies include the creation of jobs, the rehabilitation of undeveloped or non-industrial areas, the rejuvenation of art and local techniques, traditional and cultural activities, improvement of the social and cultural life of the local community, the modernization of local architecture and traditions as well as increased attention to the protection of extremely beautiful areas with aesthetic and cultural values...

Introduction Given the expanding tourism market and economic crisis affecting conventional industries, tourism has increasingly been considered as a remedy for urban economy. There are numerous key factors in sustainable development of tourism which should be taken into account. In addition to factors such as the dynamic growth of management, climate change, poverty reduction and protection support for tourists and residents, security is of substantial significance. The success or failure of a tourism destination depends, more than any other economic activity, on its ability to offer a safe and insured environment for the visitors. Positive and satisfactory experience of visitors is a proper index for tourists’ willingness to visit the tourism destination a second time in the future...

Introduction The agriculture sector is one of the most important economic sectors in the country and its role on the economic, political, national and international development is important. One of the main concerns of development planners is always the significant share of agriculture sector in production and employment as well as the creation of sustainable food security. The challenges of conversion and complementary industries are among the issues that reduce the efficiency and effectiveness of production units in Shabestar city and have minimized the optimal utilization. In this regard, identifying the challenges facing this industry can help to facilitate and develop it. Therefore, the major issue of this research is to identify and determine the future challenges of conversion and complementary industries in Shabestar city as well as explaining that how these challenges affect each other...

Introduction Nowadays, investigations and analysis of changes in land use through local and national scales have been taken into consideration more than ever, the major purpose of which is to optimize land use as well as its limited finite resources. During the past few years, the rapid growth in population along with urbanization have intensified the significance of land use, resulting in extensive changes regarding the usage of lands in the cities. In general, it has been indicated that natural forces as well as human activities are the two major factors in changing land use and ground cover through scales ranging from local to national. Although the development of cities in western countries have taken a rather slow pace of progress currently, yet, statistics show a rapid, considerable growth in Asia. Similarly, our country have also witnessed such an increasing, accelerated progress, especially during the past 40 years; in most cases, however, the growth has taken place in outskirts of cities and locations with fewer facilities and features. Among various changes in land use brought about by humans, urban growth and development is of utmost importance concerning the high values of lands; as a result, the position of modelling and predicting the changes in land use in the future have also gained significance for urban management, environment, and other authorities and researchers involved...

Introduction Soil temperature, as an important meteorological parameter, is essential for a variety of scientific studies. Soil temperature is one of the major physical parameters of soil. Plant growth and soil tillage processes depend on it. Soil temperature study at different depths is important in meteorology, and especially, in the micro scale, climatology, agriculture and industry, and its changes are also dependent on air temperature. Soil temperature and soil humidity are important factors that influence organic matter decomposition and water cycle and plant growth. Access to soil temperature data at different depths of the soil is important for environmental purposes, agriculture, urban management, and building, and its lack is a major challenge. Researchers have always tried to determine the relationship between soil temperature and important climate parameters in different depths to estimate this important feature using different models. Therefore, soil temperature, its changes and its effects on the ecosystems and human activities cannot be ignored in the studies of climate change...

Introduction The increasing intensification of scale, expansion, and complexity of problems in cities as well as becoming aware of the incompetent conventional system and topdown decisions-making have led to a trend toward systems, in which small and large decisions are made through cooperation between urban beneficiaries. Today, the “ good urban governance” approach has been introduced as the most influential and sustainable way of management with the lowest cost. Given the significance of this approach, its examination and analysis in the management of various cities is substantially beneficial. Consequently, the purpose is to examine good urban governance in Arak city as a case study...