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In the last two decades, urban redevelopment practices in informal settlements in Turkey often neglected inhabitants' spatial practices. The contradictions between conceived and lived space constitutes reactions to these spatial interventions. Against this background, this paper examines the association between place attachment and residents' attitudes toward the redevelopment project in an informally developed neighborhood. Using path and decision tree analysis of survey data, the paper explores the relationship between their attitudes towards and their attachment to the neighborhood. Our findings reveal that individuals' social and physical bonds with their neighborhood shape their attitude toward urban redevelopment. As such, this study confirms the idea that daily interactions between residents reinforce their place attachment in informal settlements where place identity compensates for the (low) quality of life. Still, our findings also demonstrate that residents' identification with the place is a more influential factor, compared to the risk of leaving the neighborhood, on the level of concern against spatial interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will explore safety and danger in gated communities in Turkey, an important subject of study in recent research in urban studies, conducted nationally and internationally. Safety has become a major concern in the last years, especially in large metropolises, leading people to move to gated communities which are thought to protect residents from urban problems. The paper uses the data collected during a fieldwork conducted in two gated communities in Istanbul. The main data is based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with their residents and other participants providing first-hand information on two case studies. The paper also uses visual and statistical data provided by relevant administrative officers. The paper indicates that gated communities are not totally isolated and ready-made sites. Rather, it argues that they create a mixture of “traditional” and “ready-made” safety while they also lead to new forms of danger, all of which emerging from their different socio-spatial configurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes transformations in institutions of affordable housing production connected to neoliberalization, which have impacted affordability rates and income gaps in Copenhagen and Istanbul. Also, different types of affordable housing began to develop, such as modular housing of Almenbolig+ in Copenhagen and housing for very low-income people in Istanbul. Increased affordability rates are the results of the transformations of welfare state-based practices to market-based approaches. The aim of this paper is to analyze and compare how affordable housing institutions have transformed from being financed through public funds to private funding sources since the periods of financial crisis in 2001 and 2008 in a Western and non-Western country. Using the concept of neoliberal localization, this comparative case study employs variation finding tool to analyze the transformations under three causal mechanisms. The first mechanism is state withdrawal of providing finance to affordable housing production; second, collaboration with private sector for financing affordable housing while increasing authority of municipalities. The third mechanism is restructuring institutions to open a base for public-private partnerships. Primary data was provided from interviews, while secondary data was gathered from planning policies, legislations, OECD and country statistics. The outcome of this study reveals information about changes in affordable housing institutions and neoliberal effects on affordable housing production due to contributions of local governments contingent on requirements of private funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the performance of the multilevel model within the metropolitan area and explores the submarkets of housing prices at the metropolitan level. In addition to the district and neighborhood segmentation within municipal boundaries, areas using the same street for transportation are segmented into submarkets to reveal the effect of the street on price. A fully-random multilevel model is used for finding out a correlation between the prices of housing units and their location. This study compares four submarket modeling strategies based on the data on housing sale transactions in Istanbul. The first model is a simple hedonic model using ordinary least squares and taken as a city-wide 'benchmark' model. Three different types of multilevel models are used for models 2,3 and 4. Model 2 and model 3 use district and neighborhood boundaries, which are respectively predefined as spatial divisions. Model 4 represents the geographically smaller areas that use the same street for transportation. The results reveal that multilevel models with smaller spatial units of geography are capable of improving predictive performance in determining dwelling prices in the metropolitan area and that the sub-regional spatial units that use the same street for transportation have an effect on the spatial dimension of submarket boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable urban transitions promise high mitigation and adaptation potential to address the effects of anthropogenic climate change. The two coastal megacities studied in this paper, Shanghai and Istanbul, have the potential for low-carbon urban transitions that can destabilize existing regimes. The destabilization is brought about by the disruptive business model innovations of the sharing economy in Shanghai's mobility sector and by the energy-efficient practices developed alongside the intensification of the building sector through the process of urban renewal in Istanbul. However, the emergence of such urban transitions through the actions of agents relies on the existence of enabling environments for regime destabilization. In a comparative case study of Shanghai and Istanbul, we assess the challenges of realizing regime destabilization opportunities through an enabling environment framework. We find that without adequate enabling environments for regime destabilization, urban transitions to sustainability may fail to achieve effective low-carbon action and make progress towards meeting the sustainable development goals. We also show that while deliberate and collective efforts are underway from multiple agents within and beyond the two megacities, the environments for regime destabilization in the building and transport sectors considered remain insufficient primarily due to conflicting priorities among key agents in the underlying urban systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residents' perception of cultural activities is an important aspect of quality of life. This paper explores the association between the residents' perception of quality of life and their attendance in cultural activities. Firstly, we investigate the effect of the spatial distribution of existing cultural facilities on the level of attendance to cultural activities, and secondly, explore the relationship between the people's socio-economic structure and their level of attendance to culture related activities. A dataset of 1,635 dwelling units was selected through a systematic random sampling method for face-to-face interviews. Using surface modeling technique, a close relationship between the socio-economic structure and attendance to culture related activities was observed and the results show a need for a balanced spatial distribution of cultural facilities in the city. In addition, attendance to culture related activities should be increased and be more widespread through a balanced distribution of accessible activity nodes. This may help to improve the quality of life in Istanbul. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an analytical assessment of the rhetoric of space in both the Ottoman gazel, a short lyric poem in couplets, and the nasib, a lyric introduction to qasida. The point of focus: that the distance between the beloved and the lover in Ottoman lyric poetry is, in some notable sense, analogous to the distance between the monarch and his slave. In this analogy poetic images of the City of Istanbul, the residence of the beloved/monarch and the capital of the Empire, stand as an extended metaphor for yearning and desire. On the other side of the analogy is modest provincial space of a lover. The paper explains this relation using the examples from the works of Ottoman poets from the fifteenth until the late nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

İstanbul is the largest city located in the Mediterranean Basin and has a medium to high risk of climate change and future climate risks. Changes in temperature and other weather variables have had significant impacts on İstanbul. In this context, there is a need for studies on the issues of climate monitoring and climate change vulnerability to reduce the adverse impacts. The aim of this study is to investigate the temperature trends of synoptic weather station in İstanbul Atatürk Airport between 1973 and 2023 to have a general idea about how the temperature has changed over the last half-century and to establish statistically whether a trend is significant or not. The values of minimum (Tmin), maximum (Tmax) and mean (Tmean) temperature related parameters were estimated. Annual, monthly and seasonal temperature trends are also analyzed. The findings of this study indicate a significant (p < 0.001) rise in the mean air temperature (Tmean) of İstanbul over the past 51 years (1973–2023), with an annual warming trend of 0.06 °C. The strongest increasing trend in seasonal mean air temperatures has been observed in the summer season, with an increase of 0.08 °C per year. The trend analysis also shows a statistically non-significant increase in yearly average minimum temperature (Tmin) between 1973 and 2023, with a rate of 0.04 °C per year. However, the annual maximum temperature (Tmax) has shown no changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of land cover change, from natural to anthropogenic, on physical geography conditions has been studied in Kayisdagi Mountain. Land degradation is the most important environmental issue involved in this study. Most forms of land degradation are natural processes accelerated by human activity. Land degradation is a human induced or natural process that negatively affects the ability of land to function effectively within an ecosystem. Environmental degradation from human pressure and land use has become a major problem in the study area because of high population growth, urbanization rate, and the associated rapid depletion of natural resources. When studying the cost of land degradation, it is not possible to ignore the role of urbanization. In particular, a major cause of deforestation is conversion to urban land. The paper reviews the principles of current remote sensing techniques considered particularly suitable for monitoring Kayisdagi Mountain and its surrounding land cover changes and their effects on physical geography conditions. In addition, this paper addresses the problem of how spatially explicit information about degradation processes in the study area rangelands can be derived from different time series of satellite data. The monitoring approach comprises the time period between 1990 and 2005. Satellite remote sensing techniques have proven to be cost effective in widespread land cover changes. Physical geography and particularly natural geomorphologic processes like erosion, mass movement, physical weathering, and chemical weathering features etc. have faced significant unnatural variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper examines the determinants of agglomeration by seeking the patterns of urbanization economies and localization economies in the Istanbul metropolitan area (IMA). The research is developed in two steps. The first step is the measurement of concentration levels for the IMA; the Ellison-Glaeser localization index (EGI) is applied to the 22 manufacturing sector (2-digit level) at three different geographical levels. The second step is to determine the structural pattern of agglomeration. By regressing the Ellison-Glaeser localization index values on proxies for urbanization and localization economies, the determinants of agglomeration are demonstrated. The determinants of agglomeration are estimated by 12 different two-stage OLS regressions. While three of these regressions represent the agglomeration factors at each geographical level, the other nine equations represent the agglomeration factors at the industry-specific level. The results suggest that urbanization economies have a strong effect on agglomeration both at the geographical level and industry-specific level. It is noticed that density, market area potential, and labor market potential are the most effective proxies for urbanization economies on agglomeration. The effects of localization economies are consistent with Marshall for labor pooling and manufactured input. However, the results do not provide any evidence that knowledge spillovers have an influence on agglomeration in this case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, more than half of the world's population of 7.6 billion lives in cities, and by 2030, it is estimated that the population of urban residents will exceed 5 billion worldwide. Since growth in cities destroys agriculture, forests, and wetlands, an increasing carbon footprint brings many environmental problems, such as global climate change. Among the developing countries, Türkiye's largest cities have been experiencing a rapid urbanization process. The study aims to analyze the adverse effects of urban growth in Türkiye's largest metropolises on natural areas such as agriculture, forests, and wetlands. In this context, the Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir metropolitan areas have been determined as case areas. The correlation between the changes in the land cover and the urban expansion processes of the three big cities from 1990 to 2018 has been systematically analyzed in the GIS environment using Corine land cover program data. The study indicates the devastating effect of urban growth on agricultural areas in all three case areas. In addition, the urbanization pressure in Istanbul continues to destroy northern forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution has been plaguing Dilovası dwellers for more than two decades, and the proximity of large industrial facilities with residential areas has been associated with a strong prevalence of cancer among residents of the neighborhood, sometimes dubbed as "Cancer Valley" in Turkish Media. Following original ethnographic research conducted in 2021, this study exposes the history of the neighborhood: why people moved there, how did it become one of the largest industrial hubs in Turkey, and what sort of transformation did it undergo over the last decades. Additionally, it examines how Dilovası residents experience and understand their toxic environment and its consequences, and how they relate to political and social action against pollution. This research, grounded in environmental justice literature, shows that, as both economic opportunities and environmental conditions started to degrade simultaneously in the 1990s, the more modest households of Dilovası were unable to leave and accepted to endure the pollution in exchange for the promise to secure an industrial job for them or their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Istanbul today is probably unique in the world not only in terms of the recognition of its earthquake risk by its inhabitants and administrators, but also in terms of significant steps taken in a such a short time toward the mitigation of its earthquake vulnerabilities. This paper, however, deals with the issues that still remain unattended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current situation of the water resources of Istanbul, which is one of the important metropolises of Europe, should be known and constantly monitored by the reasons of the rapid increase in the city population, the acceleration of production-related industrial activities, the expansion of the city with construction activities, and the decrease in precipitation. The purpose of this study was to reveal the situations of surface sediments collected from Istanbul water reservoirs in terms of PCDD/Fs and DL-PCBs, to identify possible sources, and to conduct their ecological risk assessment. Total PCDD/Fs and DL-PCBs concentrations varied between 28.13 and 457.4 pg/g (average 136.8 pg/g) and 12.19–340.1 pg/g (average 72.09 pg/g). The corresponding TEQ values of PCDD/Fs and DL-PCBs were between 0.53 and 5.37 pg TEQ/g (average 2.23 pg TEQ/g) and 0.02–0.44 pg TEQ/g (average 0.12 pg TEQ/g), respectively. Octachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (OCDD) is the dominant congener by constituting about 75% of the total PCDD/Fs on average, while congener distributions of DL-PCBs showed the dominance of PCB-118 and PCB-105. The sediments taken from Kazandere dam have the lowest pollution levels for both PCDD/Fs and DL-PCBs. The highest PCDD/F and DL-PCB amounts were measured in sediments of Alibey and Elmalı dams (closest to highly populated settlements of Istanbul), which are most affected by the air pollution caused by the traffic, commercial/industrial combustion (like waste incineration facility) and combustion for residential heating. Almost all the sediments have total dioxin-like toxicity levels higher than the safe threshold level (with two exceptions) of 0.85 pg TEQ/g dw, proposed for ecological risk. Health risk assessment shows that levels of dioxin-like compounds would result in a total intake of 0.33 pg TEQ/kg bw/day even in the worst-case scenario, not exceeding the tolerable daily intake value of 1 pg TEQ/kg bw/day. Among exposure pathways, consumption of fish constitutes almost all the total intake, while contributions of other pathways are minimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world is currently struggling with a new type of coronavirus (2019-nCoV) pandemic that first appeared in Wuhan, China, and then spread to almost all countries. As in other countries of the world, public authorities in Turkey are implementing many preventive and mitigating partial lockdown (PL) actions against the virus's effects. Some decisions and policies implemented before and after March 11, 2020, when the first virus case has been identified, have reduced people and traffic circulation, which has also turned into some improvements in air quality. At this point, this study aims to investigate how this pandemic affects the air quality of a metropolis. A case study of the city of Istanbul, the most affected city with more than half of Turkey's cases, is performed. In our analysis, we observe, compare, and discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and PL decisions on Istanbul city's air quality. We consider the particulate matter (PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrogen oxide (NO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and ozone (O3) concentrations. We used data from 19 air monitoring stations (AMSs) and obtained improvements in the air quality for the pandemic period. In summary, the concentration levels in PM10, NO2, NO, and NOx result in a clear decline in pandemic times compared to the normal times in Istanbul. On the other hand, a non-homogenous trend for SO2 and CO concentrations is observed for different AMSs. A partial increase in O2 concentration is obtained in the comparison of before and during the PL period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study applies the latest probabilistic performance-based earthquake engineering tools in terms of nonlinear dynamic analyses in tandem with hazard-consistent record selection to assess the risk of collapse of RC tall buildings in the Istanbul metropolitan area and to quantify their seismic safety margin with respect to acceptable risk levels. Statistically representative archetype buildings selected from an extensive inventory form the basis for this assessment study. Accordingly, we chose five hypothetical building sites in Istanbul where tall buildings are densely populated to estimate the risk of collapse for 5 × 5 = 25 building-and-site specific cases. The results showed an average 10% probability of collapse under the ground-motion intensities with 2% probability of exceedance in 50 years. The mean annual rates of collapse range between 0.1 × 10–4 and 6.1 × 10–4 with an average of 1.7 × 10–4, which remains below the tolerable risk threshold value of 2.0 × 10–4 envisioned by the FEMA's Building Seismic Safety Council. However, 36% of the analyzed cases yielded collapse rates higher than this tolerable risk. Among the considered cases, the core walls and frame building was identified as the best design choice from a collapse safety point of view while the tunnel form archetype raised concern by exhibiting substantially higher collapse risk compared to other archetypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study explored and discussed the water management strategy of Istanbul with more than 16 million inhabitants. Istanbul has quite limited local fresh water resources with an ultimate storage capacity of 868.7 million m3 and supplies daily approximately 2.8 million m3 of water at a magnitude of 180 L/ca. 36% of the water demand is supplied from a water source 190 km away from the city. In this study, the critical balance was evaluated accounting for all important factors, population, expansion; water demand; water quality; protection of water resources. The evaluation was specifically conducted in two major water catchment areas around Büyükçekmece and Ömerli Basins between 1994 and 2019 using remote sensing technology. The results outlined a significant increase mainly from bare land and green area to artificial surface in Büyükçekmece and Ömerli Basins with a rate of 217% and 77%, respectively. The conversions to artificial surface were mostly observed to occur in long-range protection zones in both basins. This study also interpreted the potential impacts of the proposed "Canal Project" on water resources regarding the existing and future demands of the population living in Istanbul. The quantitative and qualitative evaluations outlined the fact that the following 5 years of Istanbul will be a critical period in terms of survival and collapse of water management, and that Istanbul needs to enrich its local water resources by generating other alternatives, i.e. sea water desalination from Black Sea or Marmara Sea to compete with the increase of population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mytilus galloprovincialis is a marine mollusk belonging to the Bivalvia class. It has been distributed largely in Turkish shores and worldwide aquatic environments. Besides being known as an environmental pollution indicator, it is highly consumed as a food and has a high economic value. Due to their nutritional mechanisms by filtering water, they are affected by pollution in seawater and mussels can host-microbial diversity of environmental origin as well as pathogenic bacteria. Therefore, in this study, bacterial species found in Mediterranean mussels collected from the coastal stations of Istanbul [Rumeli Kavagi (RK), Kucukcekmece (KC)], and Izmir [(Foca (MF), Urla (MU)] were investigated and compared with microbiological and metagenomic analyses. According to microbiological analysis results, 34 mussel-associated Enterobacteriaceae and Vibrionaceae family members were identified. As a result of the culture-independent metagenomic analysis, taxonomic groups for each station were identified and compared based on Operational Taxonomic Unit data. For all stations, the most abundant bacterial genera were the unclassified bacterial genera. The total number of mussel-related total richness identified in all groups was 4889 (RK = 1605; KC = 1930; MF = 1508; and MU = 1125). According to the metagenomic data obtained in this study, different relative amounts of Lachnospiraceae and Bacteroidetes taxa groups were reported for all stations. The pathogenic bacterial genera identified by metagenomic analyses which may be significant for the public health are Arcobacter, Clostridium, Aeromonas, Vibrio, Escherichia_Shigella, Klebsiella, Campylobacter, Helicobacter, Pseudomonas, Morganella, Serratia, Corynebacterium, Enterococcus, Staphylococcus, Yersinia, Mycoplasma, Brucellaceae_unclassified, Pantoea, and Proteus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyzed the annual, monthly, and seasonal variations of urban heat island (UHI) intensity in Istanbul by using meteorological data measured for the period of 1960–2012 at six stations. The UHI on minimum temperature is found to be positive for all seasons, and the average UHI intensity clearly indicates seasonal changes, strongest in summer and weakest in winter. The results demonstrated increase of night time UHI intensity with 0.41–0.50 °C/decade and decrease of daytime UHI intensity with 0.13–0.18 °C/decade at the urban sites. The UHI strengthened with the expansion of the city due to increased population. The influences of meteorological variables on seasonality of the UHI intensity are examined for the days categorized depending on wind, cloud cover, and precipitation values. It is found that the UHI intensity decreases with increasing wind speed and cloud cover. The integrated response of the city atmosphere to wind speed changes differ such that daytime UHI in urban atmosphere intensifies rapidly from calm conditions to the wind speeds of 2–3 m/s, then slightly increases until 4–5-m/s wind speeds and starts to decline afterwards. On the other hand, the nighttime UHI intensities in urban sites continuously decline with the same rate until the wind speeds reach to 5–6 m/s. The difference of daytime UHI between rainy summer days and dry days is around 1 °C which is almost independent of the precipitation amount. Both nighttime and daytime UHI intensities depend on the season and site range approximately between 0.24 and 1.74 °C and − 0.62 and 2.61 °C, respectively. However, the UHI based on minimum temperature for the selected dry days with low wind and clear sky conditions increases to 1.70–3.08 °C. Land surface data from Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Aqua and Terra show areal extension of the UHI through the north along the Bosphorus between 2000 and 2012, especially in the night observations. The continuous increase of built-up areas, paved roads, and decrease of green areas caused the growth of UHI intensity. The estimated UHI based on land surface temperature (LST) at the most urbanized locations of Istanbul reach to 8 °C for daytime and 6 °C for nighttime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The compilation of the data for past disasters is vital for taking lessons from the past, investigating their reasons, preventing the loss in the future and for disaster planning-related works. In Turkey, especially in Istanbul which has a historical background of more than 8000 years, the demand for backdated disaster data increases to determine the dangers that the city is faced with and to analyze them. The purpose of our work is to develop a hazard profile identification model for Istanbul by using 'Analytic Hierarchy Process.' Therefore, we searched for different types of disasters and hazard classifications in various national and international databases. We scrutinized the kinds of disasters, hazards and hazard characteristics that should be used for a proposed model. By examining 'Istanbul's 2000 Years of Disaster Database' and 100 years of Republic's statistics prepared for Istanbul, we identified the disaster categories and criteria, ran the Analytic Hierarchy Process and created a hazard profile model for Istanbul. Consequently, we proved that the most important types of disasters that affect Istanbul are geophysical disasters followed by climatological, hydrological, meteorological and technological disasters. The work also shows us that the districts which have a high rate of the population such as Bagcilar, Kucukcekmece and Esenyurt are more vulnerable to these hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the coastal districts of mega city Istanbul, Bakirkoy is one of the most critical one with the importance of air and marine transportation and presence of many other coastal facilities and structures that are prone to suffer from marine hazards. In the history, the Sea of Marmara has experienced numerous earthquake and landslide events and associated tsunamis. Therefore, tsunami risk assessment is essential for all coastal districts of Istanbul, including Bakirkoy district. In this study, a further developed methodology for tsunami human vulnerability and risk assessment Metropolitan Tsunami Human Vulnerability Assessment (MeTHuVA) is applied for Bakirkoy district of Istanbul, considering earthquake generated tsunamis. High-resolution tsunami hazard analysis is performed with the integration of coastal inundation computation with tsunami numerical tool NAMI DANCE and tsunami human vulnerability assessment with GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis methods (MCDA). Using analytical hierarchy process method of MCDA, a hierarchical structure is established, composed of two main elements of tsunami human vulnerability: Vulnerability at Location and Evacuation Resilience. Tsunami risk assessment for Bakirkoy district is calculated by integrating result of hazard and vulnerability assessments with a risk relation that includes a parameter ( n), which represents the preparedness and awareness level of the community. Tsunami simulations revealed that the maximum inundation distance is over 350 m on land and water penetrates almost 1700 m along Ayamama stream. Inundation is observed in eleven neighborhoods of Bakirkoy district. In the inundation zone, maximum flow depth is found to be over 5.7 m. The inundated area forms 4.2% of whole Bakirkoy district, and 62 buildings are located in the inundation zone. Hazard, vulnerability and risk assessment results for different neighborhoods of Bakirkoy district are presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Istanbul is a mega city with various coastal utilities located on the northern coast of the Sea of Marmara. At Yenikapı, there are critical vulnerable coastal utilities, structures, and active metropolitan life. Fishery ports, commercial ports, small craft harbors, passenger terminals of intercity maritime transportation, waterfront commercial and/or recreational structures with residential/commercial areas and public utility areas are some examples of coastal utilization that are vulnerable to marine disasters. Therefore, the tsunami risk in the Yenikapı region is an important issue for Istanbul. In this study, a new methodology for tsunami vulnerability assessment for areas susceptible to tsunami is proposed, in which the Yenikapı region is chosen as a case study. Available datasets from the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and Turkish Navy are used as inputs for high-resolution GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) evaluation of tsunami risk in Yenikapı. Bathymetry and topography database is used for high-resolution tsunami numerical modeling where the tsunami hazard, in terms of coastal inundation, is deterministically computed using the NAMI DANCE numerical code, considering earthquake worst case scenarios. In order to define the tsunami human vulnerability of the region, two different aspects, vulnerability at location and evacuation resilience maps were created using the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) method of MCDA. A vulnerability at location map is composed of metropolitan use, geology, elevation, and distance from shoreline layers, whereas an evacuation resilience map is formed by slope, distance within flat areas, distance to buildings, and distance to road networks layers. The tsunami risk map is then computed by the proposed new relationship which uses flow depth maps, vulnerability at location maps, and evacuation resilience maps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the existing literature on demand for natural gas assumes constant and single-value elasticities, overlooking the possibility of dynamic responses to the changing conditions. We aim to fill this gap by providing individual time series of short-run elasticity estimates based on maximum entropy resampling in a fixed-width rolling window framework. This approach does not only enable taking the variability of the elasticities into account, but also helps obtain more efficient and robust results in small samples in comparison with conventional inferences based on asymptotic distribution theory. To illustrate the methodology, we employ monthly time-series data between 2004 and 2012 and analyze the dynamics of residential natural gas demand in Istanbul, the largest metropolitan area in Turkey. Our findings reveal that the elasticities of the demand model do not remain constant and they are sensitive to the economic situation as well as weather fluctuations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 21st century will bring about chaotic environmental issues that are likely to be challenging and which will need innovative solutions. As one of these challenging issues, this study focuses on the at-risk coastal megacity of Istanbul and examines the role of the landscape architecture within the multidisciplinary structure of disaster management. This study includes two of the most at-risk southern coastal districts of Istanbul: Bakirkoy and Kadikoy, and evaluates their open spaces for emergency response by utilizing GIS technology. The evaluation process developed within this study constitutes six phases: examining the landscape and its changes, detecting current urban elements, eliminating unavailable urban elements for emergency response, defining open space and cluster types for the post-earthquake period, assigning clusters and open spaces, and defining strategies. This study highlights the importance of urban open spaces that are planned and designed in a disaster sensitive way for a more effective emergency response. By examining two at-risk coastal districts of Istanbul, this study develops a disaster sensitive planning approach toward the emergency response period, which will enable the generation of long-term disaster sensitive landscape strategies. This study is an attempt to further disaster sensitive landscape studies in the belief that coastal megacity of Istanbul will benefit from them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Awareness and perception of risk are among the most crucial steps in the process of taking precautions at individual level for various hazards. In this study, we investigated the factors affecting better knowledge and greater risk perception about earthquakes among residents of Istanbul. A field survey was carried out, and a total of 1,123 people were interviewed in two districts of Istanbul with different seismic risk levels and from three (low, moderate and high) socio-economic levels (SEL). The findings showed that although the level of knowledge regarding earthquakes and preparedness for them was promising, it could be improved. The results indicated that future preparedness programmes should target people with lower educational and socio-economic levels. The media were the leading source of information among the respondents. Location of the home was a strong influence on individuals having above average earthquake knowledge and even more on high risk perception. Socio-economic parameters (educational level, economic status, SEL of the sub-district and tenure of the home), gender and attitude score were other factors influencing greater risk perception with regard to earthquakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports the results of a study that explored whether outdoor recreational areas are sufficient in Istanbul in terms of their surface area and facility characteristics. All the municipalities in 32 subprovinces of Istanbul were sent a survey in 2007 and asked to prepare a list of their outdoor recreational areas including their names, addresses, size, and facilities. All the data collected from the municipalities were used to create a GIS-based inventory by using GIS and remote sensing. As the study revealed, the outdoor recreational areas in Istanbul are far behind meeting the recreational needs of the residents in terms of area per person and facility characteristics. There are 2,470 areas which were dedicated to outdoor recreational activities in Istanbul. Total surface area of all these outdoor recreational areas is 19,2 sq kilometers; this means 1.52 m2 recreational area per person in the city. This value is very low when compared to that of many cities in Europe and USA. As the study also revealed, the majority of outdoor recreational areas in Istanbul are poor in facility. Majority of the existing outdoor recreational areas are small and do not provide the public with many opportunities to engage in different outdoor activities. A more sustainable and efficient recreational plan is needed in Istanbul to meet the various recreational needs of its residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Istanbul is the most populated city of Turkey with a population of around 10.58 M (2000) living on around 5,750 km2. In 1980, the population was only 4.7 M and then it has been more than doubled in only two decades. The population has been increasing as a result of mass immigration. An urbanization process continues and it causes serious increases in urban areas while decreasing the amount of green areas. This rapid, uncontrolled, and illegal urbanization accompanied by insufficient infrastructure has caused degradation of forest and barren lands in the metropolitan area, especially through the last two decades. The watershed basins inside the metropolitan area and the transportation network have accelerated the land-cover changes, which have negative impacts on water quality of the basins. Monitoring urban growth and land cover change will enable better management of this complex urban area by the Greater Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (GIMM). A temporal assessment of land-cover changes of Istanbul has been documented in this study. The study mainly focuses on the acquisition and analysis of Landsat TM and Landsat GeoCover LC satellite images reflecting the significant land-cover changes between the years of 1990 and 2005. Raster data were converted to vector data and used in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). A database was created for Istanbul metropolitan area to plan, manage, and utilize statistical attribute data covering population, water, forest, industry, and topographic position. Consequently an overlay analysis was carried out and land use/cover changes through years have been detected for the case study area. The capability of Landsat images in determining the alterations in the macro form of the city are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Golden Horn is an estuary in Istanbul. It has connection with Marmara Sea directly and with Black Sea via Bosphorus, and was polluted by different kinds of industrial plants up to 1999. In addition to this, municipal wastewater of around one million people has been discharged to here. Greater part of the estuary was almost blocked off by sediment islands. Extensive effort was spent to dredge sediment in 1999. This created quite a convenient condition for aquatic medium in the estuary. In this research, the variations of chemical compositions of sediment bed were investigated to get clue about ecological conditions of the estuary. For that purpose, sediment samples were taken from 6 stations along the estuary in 2001, 2003 and 2004. The sediment samples were analyzed for inorganic and organic constituents. Meanwhile, water samples (from the surface and just above benthic mass) were also taken from the same 6 places and they were analyzed to verify the data from sediment samples. By this way, correlations between sediment mass and water body were determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A temporal assessment of land-cover changes of the province Beykoz in Istanbul has been documented in this article. The study focuses on the acquisition and analysis of LANDSAT 5 TM images that reflect the drastic land-cover changes between the years 1984 and 2001 utilizing aerial photographs, orthophoto maps, standard topographic maps, and ground truth measurements. The status of the province, including its surrounding villages, were examined together with more specialized maps showing only the city center and part of the province that lies within the watershed of the Elmali Drinking Water Reservoir. The land distribution profiles were also calculated for each of the images to help authorities and decision-makers to better understand the main causes of such remarkable changes and to inform them of the changing quality conditions of the reservoir. Rapid, uncontrolled, and illegal urbanization accompanied by insufficient infrastructure has caused degradation of forests and barren lands in the province, especially within the past two decades. The proximity of the province to the reservoir’s watershed, downtown Istanbul, and the transportation network has accelerated the land-cover changes whose adverse impacts on the reservoir water quality are sensed. It is intended that the data gathered and processed in this study will provide a basis for future sustainable urban planning and management activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]