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This study aims to reveal the relationship between the social structure and urban pattern in a specified urban area by means of the socio-spatial dialectic. To understand the circumstances behind this dichotomy, analyses were conducted on two intertwined subjects - social structure and morphology - as part of a case study of the historical core of the Kadıköy district in Istanbul, Turkey. Based on the findings, some inferences, depending on the predefined social and morphological components, are made about changing socio-spatialities in the given place by means of time-spacesociety relations. The results show that each socio-cultural group brought their own culture and adapted their physical environment according to their basic needs, and that culture has a restrictive and explanatory effect on the formation of space. In addition, population growth and the adaptive capacity of society to external forces demanding change in the urban space also turn out to unavoidably affect the development scheme of the morphological character of the area.

This research presents a methodology for assessing the landscape identity of rural settlements. The methodology evaluates landscape identity parameters as descriptive units and analyses landscape identity according to natural, built, socioeconomic, and sociocultural parameters at various scales. Turkey’s Aegean Region was selected as a case study for the research because of its rich rural pattern created by the combination of diverse geomorphology, a unique rural architectural character, climatic conditions, the rural economy, and sociocultural structures. The research presents several findings related to physical landscape identity. In addition, it shows important aspects of rural settlements through the lens of landscape identity and highlights the importance of identity-based approaches for sustainable rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Türkiye has a wealth of foundations and their properties, assets managed by the General Directorate of Foundations (GDF) through its geomatics engineers. This article aims to identify the misconceptions of senior undergraduate geomatics engineering students (sample group) about the relationship between foundations and land ownership registered as cultural heritage. It will develop and implement materials to eliminate these misconceptions and evaluate their effectiveness. This study consists of a preliminary, a pilot and the main application. The data collection instruments are an open-ended questionnaire, a semi-structured interview form and conceptual understanding tests. As a result of the analysis of the pre-study and the pilot study, guidance materials on information deficits and misunderstandings in the application of Article 30 of the Law on Foundations were developed. In the analysis of the quantitative data, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test is used, a non-parametric analysis methods. In the light of the data obtained from the study, it is recommended that materials be developed in other areas of land management to investigate their effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the key issues of the urban planning agenda is how urban density be decided in the spatial configurations of future neighbourhoods to overcome complex challenges such as urban warming. This paper aims to reconsider urban density as a spatial planning instrument to develop effective densification policies, planning and design strategies in terms of surface urban heat island (SUHI) mitigation in Istanbul. The quantitative research embraced a four-stage methodology including grid-based sampling design, decoding the taxonomy of urban density-matrix (UDM), land surface temperature mapping, and ANOVA tests. Tests were conducted on the UDM consisting of nine building typologies representing the horizontal and vertical urban density. The research indicated that the impact of urbanisation on SUHI can be mitigated by controlling densities and urban forms based on quantitative findings. The highest temperatures were recorded in areas with high-coverage-mid-rise and mid-coverage-mid-rise development. The different levels of SUHI in different building typologies having the same density indicated the mitigation potentials of the built-form in Istanbul's local urban warming. Low coverage and high-rise building forms were an optimal solution for mitigating SUHI in densely populated urban areas. The research gives insight into an ongoing debate among urban professionals in Istanbul concerning the impacts of density and the urban form for climate adaptation. It enables professionals to understand the impact of urban planning decisions on microclimate and integrate them into the operational processes. Considering quantitative research findings as a strong foundation for developing policy recommendations and using them as a guideline may create new opportunities for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. The study has an original value for exploring design strategies to improve microclimate and promoting sustainable urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Information Age, it is becoming crucial to understand the socio-technological factors and their possible outcomes so as to fulfill the upcoming spatial needs of the society. Thus, it is aimed to put forward how socio-spatiality is changing along with the developments in new information and communication technologies (nICTs) in the twenty-first century, and how socio-technological factors are affecting urban space in terms of the formation of new urban functions/uses or spaces that will habit/suit/house these dynamics within the city. The outcome of the study shows that there are three phases by which urban (public) space is expected to change according to the impact of socio-technological factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to reveal the relationship between the social structure and urban pattern in a specified urban area by means of the socio-spatial dialectic. To understand the circumstances behind this dichotomy, analyses were conducted on two intertwined subjects - social structure and morphology - as part of a case study of the historical core of the Kadıköy district in Istanbul, Turkey. Based on the findings, some inferences, depending on the predefined social and morphological components, are made about changing socio-spatialities in the given place by means of time-spacesociety relations. The results show that each socio-cultural group brought their own culture and adapted their physical environment according to their basic needs, and that culture has a restrictive and explanatory effect on the formation of space. In addition, population growth and the adaptive capacity of society to external forces demanding change in the urban space also turn out to unavoidably affect the development scheme of the morphological character of the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes relating to the development of land use often negatively impact on ecosystem services (ES), which in turn impairs the ability of ecosystems to sustain such services. The assessment of land suitability is a critical step in land use planning, but it may have some shortcomings and may fail to represent the diversity of ES-related features of geographical places. To address this issue, this paper proposes a method that integrates the ES approach with contemporary land suitability evaluation. The study consists of three steps: (1) Land suitability analysis: represents the geology, morphology, land capability, hydrology, erosion and habitat vulnerability, (2) Integrated ES mapping: represents the integrated value of provisioning, regulating and cultural ES potential together and (3) Land suitability evaluation based on integrated ES mapping (ES-Integrated Suitability Map): represents ES-based land suitability. The results demonstrate that there is a significant difference between the conventional and ES-integrated land suitability evaluations. According to the results of the conventional land suitability analysis, while 29.8% of land has excellent and 23.6% good suitability conditions for new development, the ES-integrated land suitability evaluation reveals that only 0.18% and 5.35% of land has excellent and good suitability for new development, respectively, in Duzce. This study shows that the introduction of the ES approach can have an important contribution to spatial decision-making. In addition, this method provides an approach to represent the place-based attributes of space better through the integration of ES into land suitability and can thus help to make environmental concerns a priority in spatial decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decline in ecosystem services (ES) across the world is mostly associated with land use change, which is the basic outcome of ecosystem degradation. The changes associated with land use development often negatively impact ecosystems to sustain their services. The lack of capability of contemporary land suitability (overlay) analysis on ES-based decision support approach necessitates a new way of analytical method integrating ES to promote sustainability more efficiently in spatial decision making and ecosystem management. Although there is a growing attention on ES-based data improvement and spatialization of ES data through mapping and valuation at local and global levels, the configuration of analytical decision support tool of ES has not been developed yet to be used for spatial decision-making purposes. In this paper, a case study for the application of ES-based decision support approach is presented to contribute as a spatial decision support tool. Duzce, a province distinguished with being another major drinking water supplier of Istanbul, is selected as a case. The aim of the paper is to explore the relevancy of ES-based land suitability (ESLS) assessment approach as a decision support tool in spatial decision making by comparing with the contemporary land suitability (overlay) analysis. Both approaches have been developed and superimposed with multilayered/multi-functional spatial assessments to achieve an integrated final output separately. The findings of the research prove that ES-based analytical approach for spatial decision making can better formulate and contribute to more holistic and comprehensive spatial decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecologically and socio-economically beneficial to cities, and covering a large fragment of land use pattern in developed countries, the green areas are under risk of zoning for building due to rapid and unplanned urbanization, policies aiming at rent and non-applicable zoning ordinances. Sufficiency of active green areas is validated with the standards of 10 m2 minimum green area per person in the Spatial Plans Regulation. While analyzing the green areas for recreational needs in the city, in addition to the spatial extent, some other criteria as the population served, location, walking distance, walking time, variety, functionality and aesthetics should also be taken into the account. Thus demands for improving the life quality in any terms in cities can be met and citizens are satisfied by a systematical planning of the green areas in accordance with these criteria. In this study, existing active green spaces in Avcilar district, which is located at western part of Istanbul, were evaluated in terms of their spatial extent, area per capita and accessibility regarding their service domains. The relationship between population density, active green areas and their service domains were examined using spatial analyses methods provided by the use of geographic information technologies. The results of the study outlined that the active green area per capita in Avcilar is 1.8 m2, significantly lower value than the accepted standards. Additionally, spatial extent of the active green areas is insufficient and their locations are messy with limited functionalities. The results clearly introduced that a comprehensive planning of green areas is urgently required in Avcilar for improving the prosperity of the local population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wide variety of health-care systems, ranging from the traditional private medical practice to medical care services, is organized by the government in Turkey. In the 1990s, as a result of privatization movement at the international level, the Turkish Government took the decision to financially support the establishment of new private health-care facilities in order to answer the increasing health-care needs of people and, at the same time, to create a competitive market to improve the quality of health care. This paper investigates, first, the growth pattern of the number of private hospitals beds versus public hospital beds and their spatial distribution in Istanbul; then, the relationships between the number of public and private hospital beds and the characteristics of the districts, such as population, income and education by using regression analysis. According to the results, while income and education are the most important factors to affect the number of private hospital beds, no relationship is found between the number of public hospital beds and the characteristics of the districts. Thus, most of the private hospitals are concentrated in the higher income neighborhoods. More efforts should be spent for balanced distribution of public and private hospital beds with respect to health-care needs of people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last decade, there has been a rapid increase in the research literature dealing with the measurement of urban sprawl. Density gradients, sprawl indexes, and certain simulation techniques are some of the quantitative measures that have been used in previous studies. Fractal analysis has also been applied in describing urban areas and a fractal theory of cities has been proposed. This study attempts to measure urban sprawl using an index relating density and proximity and relating this to the fractal analysis of urban sprawl using the example of Istanbul, a large city that hitherto has not been measured or characterized using such techniques. Measures of sprawl were calculated at each neighbourhood level and then integrated within an index using 'density' and 'proximity' factors. This identifies the pattern of urban sprawl during six time slices defining five periods from 1975 to 2005. The urban form of Istanbul is then quantified through fractal analysis in the given years in the context of the dynamics of urban growth. Our findings suggest that the fractal dimension of urban form is positively correlated with the urban sprawl index when urban growth is more likely to be 'concentrated'. This is in contrast to a negative relationship which is observed between the fractal dimension and the sprawl index when the urban growth pattern has a more dispersed, semilinear form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sprawling urban development is one of the major issues that mainly refer to the extent of urbanization. Less urban sprawl and more compact residential development have been viewed as important components of the environmental agenda. In the major cities of developing countries like Istanbul, where the population is over 12 millions, urban sprawl threatens the natural resources through large-scale land consumption. Thus, many policy-makers are starting to look for ways to control sprawl through smart growth policies before it becomes unmanageable. Urban planners require information related to the rate of growth, pattern and extent of sprawl to provide basic measurements for planning strategies. The aim of this research is to provide a sprawl measurement methodology that contributes to the understanding of sprawl dynamics. Using geographic information systems and spatial data, it is possible to identify the pattern of urban sprawl. This paper presents the extent of urban sprawl in Istanbul over six periods from 1975 to 2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]