This thesis focuses on the application of scientific information and planning support system (PSS) technologies to community planning and decision-making processes. Years of scientific research and recent technologicaladvances have produced a wealth of information and increased accessibility to this information. Technological advances have also enhanced the types of analysis that can be done to support planning and decision-making processes. However, having the capability to access this wealth of information and perform advanced analyses does not necessarily mean it results in incorporation of the data and analysis into. the planning or decision-making process. The main objective of this research is to devise a methodology to evaluate the role and impact of PSS technologies and scientific information on community level planning and decision-making processes. The methodology consists of six areas of focus: (l) issue of concern; (2) characteristics of the planning and decision-making process; (3) relevance of science to the issue; (4) capabilities ofthe PSS system; (5) roles and capabilities of the planners and decision-makers; and (6) impact of the science. The methodology is applied to Walden, Tennessee as the town goes through the process of creating a conservation-oriented zoning ordinance.

The transformation of the planning paradigm from rational comprehensive planning to participatory planning is commonly explained by the shift from instrumental rationality to communicative rationality. Based on communicative rationality, participatory planning approach has its own assumptions. One of the assumptions and pre-conditions of the realization of participatory planning practices is consensus-building. However, because of context-dependency of participatory planning processes, building consensus at the same level within every unique context is not possible. Therefore, comparing the participatory processes in terms of their success, which is commonly evaluated with standard success criteria in the literature, cannot be proper to participatory planning approach. Moreover, for the present study, exploring the factors affecting the participatory processes with a critical approach to increase the realization chance of participatory practices is more important than evaluating their successes. Focusing on the factors, affecting the participatory planning processes at interactional and socio-cultural levels, the thesis study aims to explore the socio-psychological dimensions of participatory processes that hinder and/or enhance them. To do that, the study poses three main research questions: &lsquo / what are the socio-psychological dimensions of the participatory processes of Gazi, Kaymakli, Odunpazari and Seyrek?&rsquo / , &lsquo / how much do socio-psychological dimensions explain the success of participatory processes?&rsquo / and &lsquo / how do socio-psychological dimensions explain contextually different participatory processes?&rsquo / To respond to these questions, the study was designed as case study and intended to pursue exploratory and quasi-experimental research approaches. As a result of the study, the research questions were answered in the case of the &lsquo / Local Government and NGO Cooperation in Participatory Democracy&rsquo / project in the Turkish context.

This study focuses on the determination of locality of Integrated Coastal Zone Management studies in Turkish legislation and applicability. Accordingly the process of the awareness of necessity for Integrated Coastal Zone Management in the world, related definitions, concepts and implementations, international institutional organizations and planning management experiences of different countries are firstly investigated. Afterwards coastal legislation, coastal planning process, recent studies in order to regulate authority in Turkey and as a result management, legislation, authority is evaluated. Finally Izmit Gulf (Kocaeli- Yalova) Integrated Coastal Zone Planning and Management Project are examined as a case study. State of Izmit Gulf, basic principles, zoning decisions and suggested strategies and activities are scrutinized. This study is also the first compilation concerning recent changes in planning legislation in Turkey related to ICZM studies.

LVT (Land Value Tax), unlike other taxes, causes no distortions in economic decision-making and therefore does not compromise the efficiency of a market economy. While there have been various challenges to this conclusion, it seems that the neutrality of LVT has been proven in the literature. Although it has been established conceptually that LVT is non-distortive, it is important to empirically test the effects of LVT reform in diverse aspects. Unlike other studies, this dissertation examines the economic, spatial, and welfare effects of LVT reform in a second-best situation employing an urban (and spatial) CGE (Computable General Equilibrium) model. In addition, it examines the distributional effects among different income groups and the short-term aspects of LVT as well. The feature that the present dissertation incorporates as the second-best situation includes LLZ (Large Lot Zoning). The computation and the assumptions about parameters for the current CGE model are made based on demographic, physical, and economic features of the Atlanta urban area in Georgia. The results suggest the following: (1) LVT reform is economically feasible, (2) the tax on land rent stabilizes prices and contracts the CBD (Central Business District) and urban boundary in the economy where the CBD and urban area are endogenously determined, while the tax on land rent is purely neutral in the economy where the CBD and urban area are fixed, (3) LVT reform increases the money-metric welfare of residents by about 20% of the tax revenue in the economy where residents are landowners, while LVT reform increases the money-metric welfare of residents by about 45% of the tax revenue in the economy where the lands are owned by absentee, (4) LVT reform more increases the money-metric welfare of the less-income groups that own the smaller land area, which is contrary to the case of LLZ, (5) LLZ and property tax can cause the sprawl of an urban area, but at a very low elasticity of substitution between land and the other factors (0.1), even switching from the land tax to the property tax (or graded property tax) can contract the urban area, (6) LLZ, in the long-term during which housing capital and urban boundary are not fixed and in the economy where residents are landowners, can improve the welfare of households, while LLZ worsens the welfare of households both in the economy where the lands are owned by absentee and in the short-term during which housing capital is immobile in any economy, (7) When we consider that housing capital is immobile, the increase in the money-metric welfare due to LVT reform becomes weak, compared to the case with perfectly mobile housing capital.

Although efficient use of stock is an important issue of housing economics and policies, there is very little research on the subject in Turkey. This study aims to investigate the stock efficiency in Turkey by measuring the degree to which the housing stock matches household size. Distributions between dwelling units and the households in terms of their size are investigated for this purpose. The stock is studied within three zones of occupational density: comfort, overcrowding and underoccupation, according to international occupancy standards. The findings reveal that the rapid rise in underoccupation in the stock is the dominant character of housing in Turkey, which is a result of housing system producing larger and larger dwellings despite the declining average household size in the country. The analyses in the province center level show that there are great differences between the western and eastern parts of the country. Reasons of overcrowding and underoccupation are also investigated by means of regression analysis. Tenure, income level and proportion of gecekondu emerge as the most effective variables in explaining the differentiation of overcrowding and underoccupation across province centers.

Second homes have been rapidly increasing throughout the world, especially in high amenity landscapes due to increasing mobility, greater leisure time after retirements and development of transportation means. Second home development in Turkey has been accelerated in the Mediterranean and Aegean coastal resorts especially after the 1980s. Fascination of rural environments, low cost of living and accommodation for holiday, considering second homes as investments and future permanent homes after retirements, and less stressful way of living in such coastal towns attract domestic and foreign tourists to buy second homes in amenity rich coastal areas of Turkey. This has been led to second home invasion and construction pressure on amenity rich landscapes, protected lands, countryside and natural environments. This thesis aims to investigate the challenges of coastal resort towns regarding second-home developments.

In the last three decades, depending on advances in communication technologies, there is a popular discussion that urban functions can be located independent from space. In other words, each urban function can locate to any zones of a city due to communication technology-based connections, in a so called deterritorialization. These new sprawl-based locations can be seen in the central business districts (CBD) of cities, especially by producer service functions. This thesis will investigate the validity of deterritorialization-based post-modern theoretical studies concerning recent transformation of CBDs based solely on the Western city, with reference to the distribution of such activities in Ankara and its CBD structure. Producer services can be used to test the space relations of urban functions due to their complexity and more flexible connection capacities. For this purpose, first the concepts and the fields of concepts that are based on CBDs and producer services are examined. Thereafter, these theoretical and analytical frameworks are tested in a comprehensive evaluation of urban and central growth. Ankara has been chosen as the subject of the case study due to the new locational nodes in the city and the significant threat of decline in the CBD of Kizilay, which is still the main core of city. The relations between urban space and the locational preferences of producer services in Ankara are assessed to illustrate the reterritorialization-based movements within the urban space. Finally, the implications and contributions of the study and also suggestions for possible further studies are presented as concluding remarks.

Urban development has long been the major threat to archaeological sites. Recent theoretical discussions advocate that archaeological sites in urban areas should be protected not only through technical solutions and archaeological studies, but also through spatial planning processes, which define basic mechanisms to direct and control the urban development. Despite a specific type of spatial plan, the &amp / #8216 / conservation plan&amp / #8217 / in Turkish legislation, negative impacts of urban development on archeological sites could not be successfully eliminated. This is due to the reason that conservation and planning systems do not concern &amp / #8216 / integration of the archaeological site with the urban built environment&amp / #8217 / , which results in either isolation or destruction of the archaeological remains. Based on this assumption, the objective of this dissertation is to determine in which points Turkish conservation and planning systems fail to achieve integration and how this failure could be overcame. Turkish conservation and planning systems are evaluated on selected case study area, Soli-Pompeiopolis Archaeological Site, by using three-step qualitative analysis methodology. First, conservation and planning decisions and the built environment shaped by these decisions are examined in details through process analysis. Then, based on qualities of spatial planning process redefined through theoretical discussions, &amp / #8216 / process integration&amp / #8217 / and &amp / #8216 / outcome integration&amp / #8217 / are evaluated through context analysis. Lastly, reasons of problematic issues on integration are discussed through causality analysis. Concluding the study, a discussion is carried on how to achieve &amp / #8216 / integration of conservation of archaeological sites in urban areas into spatial planning processes&amp / #8217 / by making modifications within the &amp / #8216 / Turkish conservation and planning systems&amp / #8217 / .

Aim of this thesis is to explain the role of property relations in the production of urban form. It is assumed that urban form is produced not only as a physical setting but also as a concrete and relatively fixed manifestation of property relations. In this respect, urban form should be considered in a relational conception of space. The study departs from the proposition that property relations are the main determinants of the formation of urban space, and private property constitutes the generator of the dynamics and contradictions of urban formation, through a continuous process of fragmentation. For this reason, in the control of urban formation, property rights are the basic element that city planners have to face. Therefore, this study presents a comprehensive framework that integrates the categories of urban morphology with a structural analysis of urban formation process. As the essential unit of capitalist city, &ldquo / production of the parcel as a commodity&rdquo / is elaborated as the core of urban formation process. In this framework, morphogenesis of Yenisehir&ndash / Ankara is analyzed in order to understand its historical transformation with reference to the context of property relations. Its morphological layers are depicted as a product of the contradictory relation between urban planning and property relations. It is seen that the morphogenesis of Yenisehir includes three distinct layers of formation, which are characterized by the gradual domination of commodity production in the formation process of urban space.

Safranbolu is among the many other tourism destinations of Turkey practicing sustainable and cultural tourism. Like many tourism centers in Turkey, it had been negatively influenced from economic fluctuations of the 1980s period. However, in spite of other tourism centers, it has not much changed and it has been well protected. The reasons for this protection can be explained that Safranbolu entered the World Heritage List in 1994, and so environmental and sustainable planning approaches are adapted to development of town. While protecting its natural and cultural resources, the town is planned and managed. As a result, it is announced as one of the well protected cities of the world. This thesis discusses development of Safranbolu within these sustainable tourismplanning approaches. It aims to explain how the town has been changed after being a tourism destination and to search positive and negative impacts of tourism. The thesis has four objectives / to describe tourism and tourism planning issues, to explain the evolution of tourism in Safranbolu, to search negative and positive impacts of tourism and finally to provide new recommendations on development of Safranbolu. In this respect, it explores the relations between tourism and planning, investigates cultural and spatial reflections of global tourism in the town. To determine these effects, a survey has been carried out during the summer of 2008. According to this, a sustainable and environmental tourism planning method is suggested for the town.