Feasibility of Plain Rural Type Gathering towards Sustainable Development in Guilan Province, Iran

The gathering of rural type in Guilan plains is a kind of planning for physical development of rural settlements that aims at changing dwellers' lifestyle from a dispersed to a semi-dispersed state. This change will reduce the problems and difficulties of villages. In addition, it is an optimal way to exploit the resources and facilities for making a desirable spatial organization for villagers’ settlement in rural areas, which in turn provides a favorable condition for the development of a new pattern of settlement. The results of this study suggest that experts’ point of view toward gathering of plain rural types in Guilan province is positive and it can have significant role in alleviating the problems and difficulties of the villages. Also, optimal exploitation of space and achieving rural sustainable development are other side effects of this plan.  Because of the low level of information, prominent culture, cultural obstacles and the lack of clear rules and regulations in this field are the main obstacles to run this plan in a short-term period. Given these limitations, the process of gathering plain rural type, then, requires the governmental support, the use of experts in rural development planning, as well as villagers’ cooperation.