Urban decline is one of the most important factors dealing with the creation of urban ills and formation of slums in the city centers. This study investigates the roots of urban decline in urban areas. In order to do so, symptoms, types, causes and participant factors dealing with the process of urban decline are investigated. Also functional decline, as one of the most important triggers of urban decline, is introduced and its force that results in low quality of urban places is explored. The scale of participant factors in the process of functional decline is various. These factors are observed from changes in the global political trends and economy till the regulation changes in local scale. Moreover the ways of talking with urban and functional decline, that is classified into four major category of political considerations, economic financing, planning policy and enhancing the quality of places are explored. Finally the forces of urban and functional decline that have lead to low quality of place in the case of Salipazari, Istanbul are examined. As the scale of study area is in the neighborhood scale, the most important concern will be on the low quality of place in exploring decline in this area.

Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) is an environmental problem that eventually occurs in sulfide rich mine sites. In Turkey most of the metal mines are associated with sulphide minerals and are potential AMD generators. The purpose of this PhD thesis is to practice universally accepted tools for the prediction of AMD potential for a new metallic mine development. This study involves evaluation of geological data, geochemistry, mineralogy, and acid-base accounting (static tests) data, obtained from the Erzincan-ili&ccedil / &Ccedil / &ouml / pler Gold Prospect case. The mineralization in &Ccedil / &ouml / pler is in sulfide and oxide types. The oxide is a supergene alteration and porphyry-copper type gold mineralization is classified as an intermediate sulfidation. The major lithologies observed in the study area are the regionally un-correlated meta-sedimentary lithologies, Munzur Limestone, and the &Ccedil / &ouml / pler Granitoid.Thirty-eight representative samples were tested for AMD prediction purposes. Sixteen more were included to the sampling scheme for site characterization. Both acid producing and neutralizing lithologies are present in the mine site. Similarly it was revealed that the sulphate sulfur content of the samples were insignificant that any determined total sulfur amount can be directly considered as the factor for AMD production. Geochemical data revealed arsenic enrichments up to 10000 ppm in the study area. Therefore, during the operational stage, in addition to the planning to avoid or minimize AMD, it is necessary to take precautions against arsenic mobilization during the design of the AMD neutralization scheme. Both Kinetic studies and the heavy metal mobilization related to AMD are kept out of the scope of this investigation. Similarly, management and abatement stages of AMD are excluded.

In this study, emission inventory was prepared and pollutant dispersion studies were carried out for the area around &Ccedil / ayirhan Thermal Power Plant to determine the effects of the plant on the environment. Stack gas measurement results were used for the emissions from the power plant and emission factors were used for calculating the emissions from residential sources and coal stockpiles in the study region. Ground level concentrations of SO2, NOx and PM10 were estimated by using EPA approved dispersion models / namely ISCST3 and AERMOD. The ground level concentrations predicted by two models were compared with the results of ambient air pollution measurements for November 2004. Predictions of both ISCST3 and AERMOD were underestimating the ground level SO2 concentrations. However, AERMOD predictions are better than ISCST3 predictions. The results of both models had good correlation with the results of NOx measurements. It has been shown that the contribution of the power plant to SO2, NOx and PM10 pollution in the area studied is minimal.

European Union&amp / #8217 / s Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive forms a comprehensive framework for industries mentioned in the Annex 1 of the Directive concentrating on the reduction of the environmental impacts of the industrial activities which can be implemented by the BREF Documents that provide guidelines for each sector. Among those industries, textile is a water and energy intensive one. In the present study, gains in terms of energy and water consumptions were assessed in a denim producing textile mill following the adaptation of related BAT measures. In this respect, installation of flow meters, use of semi-counter current rinsing applications / minimization of wash waters in the water softening plant, reuse of concentrate stream from reverse osmosis plant and compressor cooling waters resulted in reduction from 6,000 to 4,850 tone/day of total water consumption in the period of January&amp / #8217 / 05-December&amp / #8217 / 07. Consequently, specific water consumption in the mill was decreased from 78 to 55 L/kg textile by 29:5% which is close to lower limit of the range suggested in BREF Textile Document (i.e. 50-100 L/kg fabric). Use of waste heat from finishing wastewater streams in heating up the washing waters, heat-insulation and maintenance applications in addition to BAT measures taken for water minimization reduced specific energy consumption from 0.0100 to 0.0091 Gcal/kg textile resulting in 9% reduction in the period of January&amp / #8217 / 05-December&amp / #8217 / 07, although, energy consumption was increased from 786 to 804 Gcal/day. This achieved level of specific energy consumption was in the reference range mentioned in BREF Textile Document (i.e. 8-20 kWh/kg fabric).

Availability of data on accidents and chemical inventories, together with assessment and analysis tools is a prerequisite for integrated control of industrial accidents. Although Turkey has a developing industry, legislative measures for control of industrial accidents are lacking, past accidents are not systematically enlisted and industrial facilities and hazardous substances thereof are not properly registered. While some accident data is available in international databases, they are incomplete and erroneous. In the present study, a decision support system has been developed for collection and analysis of past accident information, assessment of current accident potentials of industrial establishments and modeling of probable accidents to reveal risks possessed thereby. The system supports web based multilingual and multi-user environment,and aims contribution of all interested parties in a collaborative manner. Information on technological accidents can be systematically archived together with reference data and visual materials. Initial data covering a time period of 30 years has been provided. The system is capable of storing hazard classifications and physico-chemical properties of substances, and providing standardized data for calculations. It can determine major-accident potential of industrial facilities as dictated by the 96/82/EC Directive of the EU and update relevant information automatically as required. An easy to use accident model for rapid assessment of off-site consequences of industrial accidents is also featured. Developed system allows integrated management of data on industrial accidents and provides decision support tools for assessing current and future accident potential,which can be used for national as well as the EU needs.

A risk assessment study is conducted in a denim manufacturing plant in Turkey. The study is carried out within the framework of a project on adopting the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive of the European Union. The scope of the assessment is fire or explosion risk with regards to hazardous chemicals present in the plant. The receptor of the study is defined as &ldquo / people&rdquo / which include the employees in the plant, employees of nearby plants and people in residential around the mill. A semi-quantitative risk assessment is carried out using checklist, a risk matrix and risk evaluation forms. The highest risks in the plant are identified as dust explosions, natural gas jet fires, natural gas explosions. Also, it is identified that due to several causes, in case of a fire or explosion the scale of an accident may enlarge instantaneously. The main warehouse is determined to carry the highest risk value in the plant. Mathematical modelling studies are conducted to calculate the hazard radius for dust explosions and natural gas fire and explosion. According to the results of mathematical modelling, the highest consequences could lead to destruction of buildings or severe injuries/fatalities of people within large hazard radius up to 700 m. The risk present at the manufacturing mill is communicated to the facility management throughout the study. Several suggestions are proposed to the facility management and some of them are already implemented.

In this study, the effect of pipe-soil relative stiffness on the behaviour of buried flexible pipes was investigated considering the pipe size, material type, stiffness, pipe-soil and natural soil-backfill interfaces and geometry of the trench using the finite element method. For this purpose, a parametric study was conducted to examine the effect of different variables on the resulting earth loads and deformations imposed on the buried pipes. Various types of trench pipe-soil cases were analysed for a certain natural ground and backfill material by the PLAXIS finite element code which allows simulating non-linear soil behaviour, the stages of construction as well as the pipe-soil interaction aspects of the problem. Loads and deformations obtained by the finite element method were compared with those calculated by the conventional approaches for different pipe-soil stiffness ratios. The finite element results obtained for the deformation of typically flexible Polyethylene pipes were then used to back-calculate the range of modulus of soil reaction, E&#039 / , values for various pipe-soil relative stiffness and they were compared with the suggested value proposed by Howard (1977).

In the recent past, people were used to consult health care professionals or textbooks in order to find answer to health related questions. Now, the availability of medical information through electronic resources has changed people&lsquo / s information-seeking behaviors and, as a result, electronic information resources have become very popular and frequently used for health related searches. This study examines the online health information-seeking behaviors of middle aged and older people from Middle East Technical University and 100. Yil neighbourhood, specially demographic and other factors effecting online health information seeking, the types of sought online health information, assessment of the online health information, and reliability criteria of middle aged and older online health information seekers. A cross-sectional design was used to collect data. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to participants. The final sample was 248 middle aged and older people. Findings show that middle aged and older employees from Middle East Technical University and 100. Yil neighbourhood are searching for health information especially for specific illnesses. They are using this information to self-treat or self-diagnose. Worse health conditions, expertise level in internet usage associates with searching behavior. Majority of the participants trust in information they found online but they do not share it with any health care professional.

One of the most important factors leading to success of a regional/national cleaner (sustainable) production strategy is sector-focused approach. Due to limited resources and other constraints, it is a necessity to make a prioritization between sectors for cleaner (sustainable) production practices. Thus, within the scope of this study, manufacturing industry sub-sectors in Izmir and in Turkey were prioritized based on various criteria. The results should assist policy makers in the preparation of related sectoral roadmaps and action plans.The prioritization of manufacturing industry sub-sector was accomplished via Multi- Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method with the integration of recent available data and by taking feedback from the stakeholders. Investigation of the sectoral priorities was carried out both at regional (Izmir) and national (Turkey) level. The criteria used in prioritization of manufacturing industry sub-sectors in Izmir were water and energy consumption, amount of wastewater discharged, amount of solid waste and hazardous waste generated, greenhouse gas emissions, HerfindahlHirschman Index (statistical measure of market concentration), sectoral employment, number of companies, export share, added value and suitability for cleaner (sustainable) production. In the prioritization analysis of Turkey all of the aforementioned criteria for Izmir except Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, number of companies and added value were used.Based on the results of this study, the top five high priority industrial sectors for cleaner (sustainable) production practices in Izmir are basic metal industry, food products and beverages, chemicals and chemical products, other non-metallic mineral products and coke and refined petroleum. In the sectoral prioritization analysis for cleaner (sustainable) production in Turkey textile industry takes the place of coke and refined petroleum. These sectors coincide with the priority sectors identified based on different purposes by other regional and national institutions.

The main subject of the thesis is planning &ldquo / cultural routes&rdquo / as a method for conservation of cultural and natural heritage areas at regional scale. Defining a framework of conceptual principles which should be considered in spatial planning of cultural routes and regional networks constitutes the major aim of the thesis. Within the scope of the study, a new developing concept recently, cultural routes are discussed as a tool for sustaining historic and local values of rural and archaeological landscapes. In this respect, the study is structured in two main parts. Firstly, conceptual background on the issue is discussed as the development of cultural route concept, definitions declared by international organizations working on the issue and principles of route planning. Secondly, based on the conceptual research, basic concepts and principles for route planning process is discussed through a case study. The case study for the thesis is selected as the Kas- Kekova region in Antalya, known as the Central Lycia in antiquity. Depending on the assessment of region&rsquo / s cultural landscape, the study is resulted by description of a spatial and conceptual framework for planning of a cultural route network in the region. Through areas rich in cultural and natural heritage, planning routes and networks at regional scale could be used as an effective tool for presenting and sustaining multivalent character of the place, and leading economic sectors which have effect on heritage.