Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 17 ISSUE 4
Written by Mohammad Hossein MENHAJ, Mohammad Sadegh ALLAHYARI, Mohammad KAZEMI

Rural guide project (RGP) is the first systemic and comprehensive national effort to spatially organize the villages. It is a major tool for the management of rural development. In this respect, the present study aimed to explore the impact of RGPs on the improvement of rural settlements in Southern Khaveh District of Delfan County, Lorestan Province, Iran. So, we applied comparative-casual methodology so that the villages where an RGP has been implemented were compared to those where no RGP has been implemented in terms of rural house indicators. The main data collection tool was a self-designed questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by a panel of academic professors in Guilan Province and the experts of Housing Foundation of Lorestan Province. The reliability of the questionnaire was estimated by Cronbach’s alpha at 0.84. Data were analysed in SPSS19 Software Package by descriptive statistics (tables of frequency distribution, mean, and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Mann-Whitney U test). The results shows that RGP had a significant impact on the variables of strengthening, material quality, allocation of parking space, building beautifying, bathroom construction, inclusion of commercial space in the building, energy conservation, construction of houses with multiple floors, availability of civil engineers and experts, partitioning of building internal space, building ventilation, hygienic disposal of sewage, and internal space exposure to light. But, its effect was statistically insignificant on the use of novel material, the use of local material, and availability of hygienic drinking water. Also, it was revealed that in villages with an RGP, the highest satisfaction was found to be with the variables of village development, the transformation in village construction status, and the villagers’ comfort and welfare. Also, the least satisfaction was with the variables of employment improvement and more investment on village.

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