This paper proposes a village level settlement environment diagnostic indices in rural areas which can apply to analyze various conditions at village level. A living space in rural areas has been changed with a diverse aspect according to living infrastructure, industrial structure, accessibility to neighbor city and so on. This indicators considered these mega-regionalization of economy and lifestyle in rural areas. The indicators consists of basic indices for all types villages and convenience service indices for center villages and the other neighbor ones classified by a functionality of their convenience facilities. As the results of delphi expert survey and a field validation, rural village settlement environment diagnostic indicators were selected 3 types, 15 domains, 24 subdomains and 61 items. And these indicators weight were determinted by AHP method. These developed indicators were used to diagnosis settlement conditions of 31 villages, located on county of Yeongdong. to validate a applicability and feasibility.

This paper is intended to review the major problems of rural settlement development and attempts to find the direction to enhance the effectiveness of rural settlement development policies and strategies. Small amount of financial resources being mobilized, similar policies for rural settlement development have been implemented sectionally by the respective sectoral goverment bodies. It has resulted in a lot of coulict and ineffectiveness in the process of rural settlement development To rationalize the rural settlement development, there should be some change in the current practice of the project: integration of development efforts, consideration of regional situation and settlement system, and introduction of principles and criteria suitable for rural settlement planning.