Integrating geographical information systems into urban-rural planning for equitable and sustainable urban development

Urban sustainability is considered the common strategy for urban development and rural revitalization. Unequal urban and rural development was the main reason for the countries’ decline. This study explores urban-rural planning, geographical information systems, and urban sustainability. This research used mixed methods to examine the benefit of urban-rural planning. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 22.0 statistical software. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test was used to measure the sampling adequacy with significant level of 0.01. Descriptive statistics, regression analysis, and hypothesis testing are used to find whether this analysis supports the hypotheses. The online questionnaire was conducted to collect the recent opinion about the urban development policies. A sample of 782 respondents was collected to gain a review for the study. The result is based on possible statements such as urban-rural planning promotes urban sustainability and creates socio-economic opportunities to identify the challenges and provide better development. Rural areas related to urban areas increase the growth of the economy. GIS positively impacts the migrant's settlement intention and provides service to the rural areas. Land use growth models in urban areas promote urban sustainability. The values of hypotheses are significant at 10, 5, and 1 percent levels which satisfies the entire hypotheses statement. From the results, the majority of the respondents had an intention to transfer from their hometown to other places for their livelihood. This study mainly contributes to the unique information about the urbanization process. It provides theoretical practice and practical implications to make new measurements for understanding urban and rural development.