Monitoring urbanization of Iskenderun, Turkey, and its negative implications

PubMedID: 16570223This study aimed to analyze long-term urban land use (LU) change and its negative implications on the coastal environment of Iskenderun, Turkey. Information on urban LU change for the 144-year period between 1858 and 2002 was extracted from a historic city plan, black-white monoscopic aerial photographs, and Landsat ETM+ imagery. According to the results, areal extent of urban areas has increased approximately 40 times during the past 144 years. The population growth as a result of industrial developments and permanent migration was main driving force to the urbanization. Environmental problems that resulted from rapid development in the region such as air, water and soil pollution were highlighted and some recommendations were made in the light of qualitative and quantitative information on the urbanization and its negative consequences. © Springer 2006

Assessing major ecosystem types and the challenge of sustainability in Turkey

In recent years, Turkey has experienced rapid economic and population growth coupled with both an equally rapid increase in energy consumption and a vast disparity in welfare between socioeconomic groups and regions. In turn, these pressures have accelerated the destruction of productive, assimilative, and regenerative capacities of the ecosystems, which are essential for the well-being of the people and the economy. This paper describes the structure and function of major ecosystem types in Turkey and discusses the underlying causes of environmental degradation in the framework of economy, energy, environment, and ethics. From a national perspective, this paper suggests three sustainability-based policies necessary for Turkey's long-term interests that balance economic, environmental, and energy goals: (1) decoupling economic growth from energy consumption growth through the development of energy-efficient and renewable energy technologies; (2) linking economic efficiency and distributive justice of wealth and power through distributive and participatory public policies; and (3) integrating the economic and ecological systems through the internalization of externalities and ecosystem rehabilitation.In recent years, Turkey has experienced rapid economic and population growth coupled with both an equally rapid increase in energy consumption and a vast disparity in welfare between socioeconomic groups and regions. In turn, these pressures have accelerated the destruction of productive, assimilative, and regenerative capacities of the ecosystems, which are essential for the well-being of the people and the economy. This paper describes the structure and function of major ecosystem types in Turkey and discusses the underlying causes of environmental degradation in the framework of economy, energy, environment, and ethics. From a national perspective, this paper suggests three sustainability-based policies necessary for Turkey's long-term interests that balance economic, environmental, and energy goals: (1) decoupling economic growth from energy consumption growth through the development of energy-efficient and renewable energy technologies; (2) linking economic efficiency and distributive justice of wealth and power through distributive and participatory public policies; and (3) integrating the economic and ecological systems through the internalization of externalities and ecosystem rehabilitation.The major ecosystem types in Turkey are described, along with the country's environmental degradation. These types include forests, shrublands, grasslands, marine and freshwater ecosystems, croplands, and urban-industrial ecosystems. The underlying causes of environmental degradation are then considered, citing the broken links among economy, environment, energy, and ethics, to examine how Turkey can begin to address sustainable development. Three primary challenges in this regard are highlighted: reducing energy-intensive economic growth, decreasing the economic disparity among socioeconomic groups and regions, and institutionalizing the sustainable management of ecosystems

Analysing Temporal Changes in Urbanization and Green Areas in Kahramanmaras

Within this research realized in the city of Kahramanmaras, areal changes for urban land use types occurred in 2000, 2006 and 2012, and the effects of these changes on the green areas have been analyzed. During the analyses realized by using high resolution satellite images and geographical information systems, it is concluded that land use types have been changed in 25372 decare which generates 25% of the study area. Areal coverage of the active green spaces has been increased four times during 12 years, but this improvement has not affected positively the rate of square meter per person, opportunity for access by walking, mean surface area of the parcels, and the rate in the whole urban area of the green areas. For improving ideally the urban green area sufficiency in the city, a great deal of green areas should be established, the parcels should be planned large and distributed homogeneously throughout the city, and these approaches should be adapted to urban development plans

Analysing urban expansion and land use suitability for the city of Kahramanmaraş, Turkey, and its surrounding region

PubMedID: 18080781This study aimed at quantifying changes in urban area of the city of Kahramanmaraş (K. Maraş) between 1948 and 2006, and analysing suitability of existing land use (LU) to the land potential. Urban change information was derived from two black-white monoscopic aerial photographs, and IKONOS and the QuickBird images acquired in 1948, 1985, 2000 and 2006, respectively. QuickBird image and soil map with 1:25,000 scale were used to analyze suitability of the current LU pattern to the land potential. The findings showed that the urban area of K. Maraş has expanded approximately 13 times during the past six decades. According to current LU and the soil map, productive and moderately productive soils were largely (73.2%) allocated for agricultural activities, which means that there was a strong consistency between the agricultural LU type and the land capability. However, widespread agriculture on the non-productive soils, and urbanization on the fertile agricultural lands were assessed as unsuitable from sustainable LU viewpoint. Considering this phenomenon, it is possible to say that rapid urban expansion has a growing pressure on the fertile agricultural soils. Monitoring LU changes, particularly urbanization, and developing effective LU plans based on the land capability were determined as the most important approaches to encourage sustainable use of land. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2007.Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledge the scientific research grant (TOVAG 104O161) of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK)

Kahramanmaras

Within this research realized in the city of Kahramanmaras, areal changes for urban land use types occurred in 2000, 2006 and 2012, and the effects of these changes on the green areas have been analyzed. During the analyses realized by using high resolution satellite images and geographical information systems, it is concluded that land use types have been changed in 25372 decare which generates 25% of the study area. Areal coverage of the active green spaces has been increased four times during 12 years, but this improvement has not affected positively the rate of square meter per person, opportunity for access by walking, mean surface area of the parcels, and the rate in the whole urban area of the green areas. For improving ideally the urban green area sufficiency in the city, a great deal of green areas should be established, the parcels should be planned large and distributed homogeneously throughout the city, and these approaches should be adapted to urban development plans

A holistic approach in analyzing the landscape potential: Porsuk Dam Lake and its environs, Turkey

The planning of land resources without integrated decisions, in other words, to use a piece of land other than according to its ecosystem process can cause the land to loose its natural features and it does not provide the expected benefits. In this context, ecosystem integrity to organize land-use, and even more going forward, the system hierarchy on the ecosystem in terms of the integrity of the landscape and giving way to the potential of usage of integrity, have become necessities. In physical planning studies, when considering the landscape main objectives, this potential offered us the protection of vital resources which could be transferred to the next generation. Porsuk Dam Lake and its environs have been the case of this study because of the danger of unplanned land-use, although it has natural and cultural landscape values. Land and climate characteristics, according to the plastic development of the vegetation and hydrological structures for wildlife habitat diversity and its rich possibilities of life, have formed the potential of this natural landscape area. On the other hand, Phrygia Valley, having a rich cultural history by being the landlord of different cultures, has comprised the cultural landscape values that need to be protected. To calculate the inventory of natural and cultural landscape elements of the lake and its environs is the first phase of the study. The results of the inventory work will determine a base to the synthesis phase to protect the valuable landscape. Finally, land-use plans for the case area have been developed to be used for protecting the landscape potential and, thus, to be able to leave the existing conditions to future generations. The holistic approach, which is a guideline for this study, has been aimed as a comprehensive reference source for the future implementations and other similar studies