درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Purpose - Achieving balanced development and spatial justice with much emphasis on competitive advantages has been constantly the main concern among planners and policy-makers to reduce inefficiency, inequality, polarization, and fragmentation in the spatial structure of different countries. Fulfilling such goals demands the knowledge of local potentials and the way to exploit them in a correct manner. Therefore, this study aimed to identify competitive advantages and levels of living in the study area, and then assess the effective drivers of balanced regional development (BRD) based on local competitiveness using future studies. Design/methodology/approach- An analytical-exploratory applied method was used to reflect on the rural areas and the researchers working on regional planning in Ardabil Township, Iran, were the statistical population. The sample size was thus determined to be 30 individuals using the snowball sampling method (via theoretical saturation). The data were also collected by a Delphi questionnaire, library method, documents, statistics, and initiatives. To analyze the data, Micmac software, the Geographic Information System (GIS software), Microsoft EXCEL, and the Morris method were employed. Finding- Analyzing the research findings associated with the variables as determinants with direct influence showed that among 23 variables in this study, 13 cases were within direct influence-dependence scope or condition but only 12 variables prioritized respectively as policy stability, executive regulations/procedures, price stability and predictability and intervention logic, monopoly prevention, unfair concessions or rents and competitions, removal of administrative barriers to business through delegation approach, effective deterrence of criminal laws and prosecutions in the judicial system, innovation/initiative flow, prevention of biased perceptions of laws by relevant stakeholders, distribution system and marketing status, effective market demand, administrative procedures and business information transparency, willingness to buy foreign goods, as well as auditing and taxing regulations/procedures as determinants had the highest influential power, that is, they constituted the drivers of BRD. Research limitations/implications - Among the most important limitations of the present study was no access to the statistics of all cases and the unwillingness of a number of executive organizations and bodies in Ardabil Township to cooperate. Furthermore, the pivot strategies in this research were established based on local development and BRD strategies. Practical implications - To meet the objectives of BRD planning in the rural areas of Ardabil Township, the key role of the 12 main variables mentioned here should be taken into account. Such variables have high influence and low dependence on BRD improvements in the study area and they are of top priority in planning for BRD based on local competitiveness in the rural areas of Ardabil County, Iran. Originality/Value - Little research has thus far assessed the effective drivers of BRD based on local competitiveness using future studies. Amongst the advantages of the present study, the comprehensiveness and impediment of its research criteria stand out.

Purpose - The ecological crisis of Lake Urmia began in 1995, and its critical state was announced in 2014. Previous studies have demonstrated that farmers and water management in agriculture sector are the main contributors to the crisis. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the role of neoliberalization in water financing, commodification, and privatization programs in reducing the water level of Lake Urmia. Design/methodology/approach - This research is descriptive-analytical in terms of method. The method of data collection is also documentary and field interviews. The documents include the laws of First Plans (1990) to the Fifth (2011) of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Fair Water Distribution Acts (1982), and the Provincial Agricultural, and Water Development Documents. The documentary analysis approach corresponds to the interpretive analysis paradigm of information analysis. Findings - What the represented results and the discussions indicate is that when politics and economics are together (as it always is today), separation becomes a neoliberal trick to restore order and self-preservation, and it causes, “The separation of the elements of water, the exploiter, the private interest from the public interest, and from each other”. In this way, by using fake tricks in the name of development and protection, it uses the environment and water resources to gain legitimacy and capital accumulation and transfers the costs of these conspiracies to the environment and the water source. Original/value- Nevertheless, it seems that the policies of structural adjustment and implementation of programs in different governments have created different "separations" and they have imposed enormous environmental costs on water resources.