Examination of smart village potential in Türkiye

With the development and effective use of technology in urban areas, rural areas have been left behind, and the imbalance between rural and urban areas has increased. The concept of smart village, a new rural development tool, is thought to be understood theoretically and practically. This study aims to contribute to the smart village literature, investigate local scale indicators, and provide a methodological perspective by analyzing the smart village potential of Türkiye at the rural settlement scale. MCDM (Multi-Criteria Decision-Making) methods are used in the study to analyze the smart village potential. The suitability values of rural settlements are analyzed by weighting the variables. Finally, spatial changes that may arise with the application of the smart village concept to existing rural settlements are evaluated, and a model for smart village plan is developed. As a result, the potential of the Smart Village concept in Türkiye has been revealed spatially. It is observed that the potential is particularly high in the Central Anatolia region and some settlements in the Aegean and Marmara regions. While performing the analysis, it is observed that there are significant differences between objective and subjective results. In particular, the variables presence of agricultural production and population change rate between 2018-2022 are the variables with the most differences. According to the results of the observations made in rural settlements with high potential, it is determined that reaching a certain population size and the presence of cooperatives in the settlement are variables that will positively influence the concept