The need of water and the limited sources, force the researchers to find the most economical and feasible solution in the design of a water distribution network. In this study, reliability and optimization of a water distribution network are taken into account together in the design stage of the network. The relationship between reliability of a water distribution network and its cost is examined during the design of a water distribution network. A methodology for deciding the reliability level of the selected design is proposed by examining the reliability-cost relationship. The design alternatives for the case study area are obtained by the aid of a commercially available software WADISO employing partial enumeration optimization technique. The reliability value for each of the design alternative is calculated according to Misirdali (2003)&rsquo / s adaptation based on the methodology proposed by Bao and Mays (1990) by the aid of a hydraulic network solver program HapMam prepared by Nohut&ccedil / u (2002). For purposes of illustration, the skeletonized form of Ankara Water Distribution Network subpressure zone (N8-1) is taken as the case study area. The methodology in this study, covering the relation between the reliability and the cost of a water distribution network and the proposed reliability level can be used in the design of new systems.

In the world today and in Turkey, poverty and its alleviation has become an important issue. As a result, detailed studies for the identification of poverty need to be done. In the recent years, the spatial aspect of the multidimensional character of poverty is gaining significance. For this purpose, in this thesis, spatial aspects of poverty are tried to be analysed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the case of Ke&ccedil / i&ouml / ren District in Ankara. Firstly, a digital map of the spatial distribution of the urban poor living in Ke&ccedil / i&ouml / ren is made and linked to the database to analyse the spatial distribution. The poverty database used in this study is based on the data collected by the Social Assistance and Solidarity Foundation in the district. It includes state of poverty and some sociodemographic characteristics of the households who applied for social assistance. The analyses with respect to the methodology of this study aims at finding the common characteristics of poor settlements and the areas/households which are the poorest of the poor in Ke&ccedil / i&ouml / ren. The maps obtained as a result of spatial data analysis indicate the dense living areas of the poor, clusters of poor households, neighbourhood level poverty analysis and poor areas within neighbourhoods. There are also additional analyses which compare the characteristics of the geographical distribution of the poor with other aspects, such as land values, roads and building conditions. Such a study can be helpful to re-allocate the poverty alleviation efforts more efficiently by determining priority areas.

This study aims to understand the glocal character of shopping malls and consumption patterns in the specific case of Ankara. The shopping mall has been a manifestation of globalization in the changing urban space as well as culture in Ankara since the 1990s. It has marked a significant shift from local dispositions of consumption and retailing, too. The study explores how this shift occurs in Ankara with regard to four aspects: spatial reorganization of urban space via malls / changing consumption patterns and urban public culture / the rise of organized retailing / and, finally, the interplay between the global and the local in commodification processes. The data was collected from semi-structured interviews with twenty-eight salespeople in four malls, namely Begendik, Arcadium, Ankamall and Optimum. These four cases each display a distinct blend of global currents and local orientations. It was realized that malls are increasingly popular for they signify a much-needed urban space and public life for the socially and culturally differentiating people in the city. Orientations of mall visitors vary regarding age, gender, neighborhood and occupational differences, while urban or rural identities can be also effective in the social practices in different malls. The ways shop employees differentiate themselves change according to their perception of consumers in a certain mall, too.

Public space has been an important social and political space throughout the history. Although there are various definitions of the term public space in the literature, it can be defined as a place of interaction and social contact among different groups and individuals. Besides, the meaning, form and function of public spaces differ due to different socio-cultural structures of societies. The form of a public space is an essential urban design issue. Moreover, the meaning and function of a space have been also considered as the urban spatial form through the urban design processes. Since the period when Ankara has been conceived and designed as a spatial project of the Turkish Republic in 1924, Hacibayram Square has been transformed within the historical meaning, urban function and spatial form. Through changing contradictions and actors, these transformations have been experienced. Hacibayram Square with its meaning, function and form in the 1930s shows differences from Hacibayram Square in the first map of Ankara (1839), which is drawn by Von Vincke. However, although the meaning, function and form of the Square have been transformed with the effects of every urban project, the political character of the square transformed but protected itself. Through this study, it is aimed to analyze how the historical meaning, urban function and spatial form of Hacibayram Square have been transformed within a historical perspective.

Urbanisation and suburban housing development are the foci subjects of this thesis. The process of urbanisation may differ from one country to another in terms of socio-economic and political structures, environmental characteristics and also local features. In this context, housing areas at the urban fringe of Ankara were found to have been developed highly compatible with urban land use theories / but different from the process experienced in developed countries. In this thesis, a different dimension of suburbanisation has been discussed with regards to middle and lower-middle income groups&rsquo / suburban movement. The reasons why lower-middle and lower income residents prefer to live at the urban fringe have been found out. Suburban developments have various opportunities for the households such as larger housing unit due to cheap and available land, better urban services, quiet and clean environment and privacy. However, households living in urban fringe who are relatively from middle and lower-middle income are subject to high transportation cost. It is expected that they make a trade off between lower housing units and greater commuting distances and also many opportunities of living in such a suburb. With regard to these, the process of suburbanisation of middle and lower-middle income groups in Ankara within the boundaries of Sincan and Etimesgut Quarters in terms of their social characters and the features of using their urban space and house is discussed according to plan decisions, house builder and households&rsquo / characteristics, urban development pattern of Turkey and Ankara and then Etimesgut and Sincan, considering the theoretical basis and historical process.

The aim of the thesis is to analyze the reasons and consequences of international labor migration of women workers into Turkey. With the process of new global restructuring, transformations in production structure and labor organization, and rise of informal economy widen the gap between different geographies and generate a tied demand and supply relation between female labor and service sector. Today millions of women who suffer from poverty leave their countries in order to sell their labor in another country. Turkey has been a popular destination for women from post-Soviet countries since the 1980s. Many of them enter Turkey legally in accordance with Turkish visa requirements but become illegal by overstaying and working in country. Service sectors absorb this female labor, and many of them are employed as live-in domestic workers. This study aims to investigate how macro factors of international migration like global restructuring and transformations in the informal economy affects meso and micro structures. In this context, this study focuses on the formation of intermediary agencies and particularly individual migratory experiences of post-Soviet women in Ankara.

Along NS trending road cut between &Ccedil / ayyolu and incek, relatively thick tuffite layer of the Han&ccedil / ili formation has been exposed. It is alternating with other lacustrine deposits such as clayey limestone, marl, siltstone and mudstone. These units unconformably overlie the Mesozoic basement limestones of Akbayir formation. The illite rich tuffite consists of glass shards tridymite, biotite, quartz and plagioclase. It has a persistent areal extend and forms the foundation of the residential buildings at several localities. In this thesis, it is aimed to assess the engineering geological properties of the tuffite layer and to investigate its suitability as a foundation material. In order to accomplish this task, field studies and laboratory tests were conducted. Field studies involve detailed site geological observation. Laboratory studies include tests to investigate mechanical, physical and mineralogical properties of the tuffite. v Analyses revealed very weak nature of tuffite with strength values ranging between 0.1 MPa and 1.00 MPa. The tuffite is characterized with very high effective porosity (43.3%) and very low dry and saturated densities (1.19 Mg/m3 and 1.62 Mg/m3, respectively). The slake-durability tests yield medium durability. The durability index of tuffite is rated as very poor. Considering index properties and the durability assessment it is concluded that tuffite serves as a poor foundation material.

The purpose of this study is to assess the engineering geological and geotechnical characteristics and to perform seismic hazard studies of the Upper Pliocene to Quaternary (Plio-Quaternary) deposits located towards the north of Ankara through surface wave testing methods. Based on a general engineering geological and seismic site characterization studies, site classification systems are assigned in seismic hazard assessments. The objective of the research is to determine the regional and local seismic soil conditions (i.e., shear wave velocities, soil predominant periods and soil amplification factors) and to characterize the soil profile of the sites in this region by the help of surface geophysical methods. These studies have been supported by engineering geological and geotechnical field studies carried out prior to and during this study. By integrating these studies, local soil conditions and dynamic soil characteristics for the study area have been assessed by detailed soil characterization in the region. As a result, seismic hazard assessments have been performed for &Ccedil / ubuk and its close vicinity with the aid of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) through establishing seismic characterization and local soil conditions of the area.

The historic core of Ankara, has been subject to a rapid change and deterioration increasingly after 1950s, losing most of its original qualities. This thesis analyzes the spatial evolution of the historic city from 1839 to 1940s with the objective to restitute the preexisting urban fabric and the transformation that took place before 1950s. The Early Republican period was critical in the transformation of the historic core as well as in the development of Ankara that was to be shaped as the &lsquo / model city&rsquo / for other Turkish cities. The Old City, which constituted the center of the new capital is studied with a morphological approach in order to restitute the original form and structure of the physical environment and to clarify the changes in the subsequent periods in relation with the socio-economic and institutional structure. Mainly depending on the cartographic materials belonging to the research periods, the study focuses on the physical evolution of the historic city through comparison on the basis of three principal items: urban fabric, urban circulation network and land use pattern. Situating the historic core within the whole Ankara, the research puts special emphasis on the impact of fires and the effects of the planning activity in the related period. The morphological analysis illustrated that the historic core of Ankara was subject to a substantial transformation during the Early Republican period as a result of the interventions brought by the reconstruction plans and piecemeal decisions.

The main hypothesis of this thesis is that the problem of urban sprawl, as a disorder in the growth of the cities, is not a natural result of the growth of the capitalist city but a phenomenon manipulated politically. Consequently, generally a geographically problematized phenomenon / the urban sprawl is, within this work, problematized with reference to urban politics. In the searching of the politics of urban sprawl, one of the political interventions into the urban space / the master plans has utmost importance in this work. The impact of the master plans on the sprawl of the city will be analyzed. A categorization of urban sprawl is proposed in the work, on the urban geography with reference to politics of urban sprawl. After illustrating the types of urban sprawl, the politics of urban sprawl is modeled. The political interventions of State, Metropolitan Municipality, District Municipalities, Housing Development Administration, Real Estate Agents and Rural Landowners located on the periphery is included in the model and their impact on the urban geography is evaluated. Ankara will be examined as a case in the politics of urban sprawl / her unique characteristics like being the &#039 / planned&#039 / capital city controlled by master plans make her indispensable to study. The political interventions of the actors to the urban space of Ankara is highly visible especially considering urban sprawl in the geography of the city, yet another reason to work on.