Urban development plans in the Turkish planning system envision that a time would come and the spatial development of any city would be completed in the specific planning period. The allegation of the planning system is to control every detail during urban development. However, the static nature of development plans within the regulatory context cannot provide strategies to manage the dynamic nature of the socio-political context. This contradictory situation involves tensions in planning control mechanisms and creates cleavages within the spatial context. &amp / #8216 / Changes in the spatial context&amp / #8217 / are the indicators of such cleavages. They are conceived to be significant since they might enhance or erode the distinctiveness of a place. To the extent that possibility of change is disregarded in static nature of urban development plans, plan modifications become the primary tools for emergence of the &amp / #8216 / changes in spatial context&amp / #8217 / . They usually emerge through individual actions and individuals begin to produce their own pattern of urbanism in the urban built environment. Management and control of &amp / #8216 / changes in the spatial context&amp / #8217 / is at the very center of the study. It is about shaping the physical form of development rights. The study aims to evaluate the qualitative and quantitative influence of plan modifications on the spatial context through a study within the whole contexts of planning control mechanisms. Hence, the study also concentrates on the operation of planning control mechanisms in the Turkish planning system. The plan modifications are evaluated throughout a detailed analysis held within boundaries of Municipality of Greater Mersin.

Sustainability, livability and quality of life have become widely and in-depth discussed issues in the literature of urban zlanning and design. This study primarily aims to investigate the concept of walkability as a part of the literature on livability. To draw a wider theoretical framework for this study, it first seeks to answer the questions of what the terms of &lsquo / livability&rsquo / and &lsquo / quality of life&rsquo / mean, and what components they constitute. Then, it focuses on the concept of &lsquo / walkability&rsquo / as one of the major components of these terms and as a measurable notion in urban design. Thus, this research seeks to define the notion of &lsquo / walkability&rsquo / and to identify a set of measures of walkability in public spaces to be used for the assessment of the &lsquo / walkability capacity&rsquo / of urban space. It should be noted that this research particularly tries to use the indicators of walkability which can directly impact on the design quality of urban space. Third, this research focuses on Mersin historic city center which has been in the process of deterioration for a while due to various current urban policies and strategies. As the case studies, it examines Uray and Atat&uuml / rk Streets which constitute the major thoroughfares of the historic city center by using the set of walkability measures. It investigates the walkability quality of four different character zones of Uray and Atat&uuml / rk Streets, and identifies their walkability capacities, problems and potentials. Finally, it suggests the policy and practical solutions on the design of these public spaces that will not only improve the walkability capacity of these streets, but also be helpful for the revitalization of the historic city center.

The theoretical structure of the study is composed of understanding the life cycle of metro system classified in three evolutionary phases. These process definitions respectively start with demand related to metro, continue with the acceptance of metro as the preferential alternative by inhabitants and end with the subway that embedded as an important reason that build city identity. Phases will be studied through its motives and will be analyzed through physical design considerations. The reason of the prevision is stemmed from the hypothetical approach which is stated as the influences of the design considerations of metro utilities are highly related on its life cycle and in forming local identity. The test of the hypothesis will be handled in two methods. The first will be a survey study which will include checklist to portraiture demand and course of the system in first two stages. At the preliminary stage, the topics of underground, underground use and the history of railway and urban railway network in world and Turkey are discussed to get a better and more comprehensive understanding of metro. Next method is designed to cross-examine design considerations and local identity by value judgment analysis for the last stage. In this phase, validity of the hypothesis will be audited by correspondence analysis. Value judgments depended assertion and expression of values which reached by correspondence analysis and Bertin Graphs, are accepted as the determinations that addresses the relationship between physical structure and local identity. The evaluation of the metro&rsquo / s physical qualifications during its life cycle, which can be noted under several headings and the relationship between the physical aspects and those of the local characteristics, are proposed to be put forth as contributions by this thesis.

Despite the abundance of descriptive studies on the urban development plans of Ankara, analytical studies on specific features of these plans, especially on implementation and modification processes are scarce. This study examines the green space structure brought in Jansen&rsquo / s 1932 development plan of Ankara, the way it was implemented and the modifications that a component of this structure was subject to. The 1932 Jansen plan is a holistic and comprehensive plan that contained a conceptual green space structure, integrated with other public uses and social facilities. An in depth evaluation of Jansen&rsquo / s 1928 and 1932 plans is made and a typology of the components of the green space structure is formed. It is found that the plan principles and the components of the green space structure of Jansen&rsquo / s plan for Ankara are perfectly congruent with German planning approach and principles of the time. From the analysis of the plan modifications of the G&uuml / ven Park- Tandogan Greenway a typology of modifications is developed. It is argued that the 1933 and 1957 development laws and regulations lacked definitions for realizing and sustaining the green space types proposed by Jansen, which consequently lead to their modifications. In reality the land ownership status, &ldquo / h&acirc / l&icirc / arazi&rdquo / , under which the greenways of Jansen plan were placed, illustrates the difficulty of translating these spatial categories into the Turkish legislative framework. In this respect, this study is an attempt to provide a contribution to the study of green spaces in relation with the implementation of development plans.

Global warming and climate change is believed to increase the hydro-meteorological natural disasters. Floods, the most widespread of natural hazards, are expected to occur more frequently and severely in the near future. This means that urban areas of Turkey are likely to be under intensive threat of floods, the adverse impacts of which are already considered only next to that of earthquakes. The recent disaster policy of United Nations together with contemporary interpretations of risk society shifted to capacity building and risk management prior to hazards, rather than preparations for relief after disasters. This historical turn in policy demands a more comprehensive and integrated form of planning for the mitigation of risks in the riverain cities of Turkey than existing approaches. Turkey&amp / #8217 / s current flood protection structure seems to be based on the surveys and assessments of a central authority and on its limited powers of intervention. The local municipal administrations are under different interests and pressures for development and land-use. It seems essential to integrate flood risk mitigation efforts with the local planning system and to involve municipalities in their estimations of risks and its declaration on official duty, as contemporary international approaches indicate. This conviction is based on a sample survey of four cases of riverine cities in Turkey, and on a review of current approaches in a sample of international cases. Findings on four riverain case cities indicate that river floods turn into destructive disasters mainly due to tolerant land-use decisions. Inaccurate and discrete implementations and developments in and through the river basins are a second source of flood losses. Currently, neither urban development plans nor available flood plans are equipped with necessary measures to mitigate risks. Findings indicate that current vulnerabilities are greater in value than investments made to curb flood risks. Independent and discrete efforts of mitigation seem to generate illusory feelings of safety, which aggravates vulnerabilities. The compulsory declaration of flood vulnerabilities by municipalities themselves in their entitlement for special subsidies could raise the general level of awareness, could curb further vulnerabilities, and contribute to the articulation of planning methods in the more effective mitigation control.

The thesis evaluates the case of Ortahisar where natural rock-caved storage sector has been the major dominant traditional economic activity since 1950s. However this economic sector has begun to recess because of conservation priorities after the declaration of G&ouml / reme Historical National Park including Ortahisar settlement in World Heritage List by UNESCO in 1986. In addition, the tourism sector has begun to develop gradually in the Region as large amounts of tourists began to invade because of the world heritage advertisement of UNESCO and has begun to threaten the town&rsquo / s local economy, natural rock-caved storage sector. The aim of this thesis is to balance the stone-caved storage sector and tourism sector facilities and integrate the sustainable sides of them with conservation and sustainability objectives in a socio-spatial planning model and to ensure these two sectors&rsquo / positive contributions to each other and local economy. Finally, the thesis will emphasize the contribution of heritage planning to the sustainability of the local economy, ensuring of each sectors contribution to each other and local economy and heritage conservation process.

Sustainable urban development is mentioned together with the concept of urban form in contemporary planning literature. The main reason behind this is a need for determining an ideal physical development scheme and its main principles of urban future in a broad term. Besides, the operational side of urban planning requires a concrete set of design codes in order to transform urban space in both macro and mezzo scale. At this point, the concept of urban compactness and the idea of Compact City have come into the agenda of planning. In the last decade, the model of compact city has become a prototype of sustainable urban form in developed countries. It is also argued whether compact urbanity is a nostalgic metaphor or an engineering solution. It has emerged as a reaction to the negative consequences of urban sprawl and suburbanization as the anti-urbanist urban phenomena in Western geographies. Hence, the relevance of urban compactness should be examined for developing and underdeveloped countries and their settlement structures. The basic motivation of the thesis is to examine the relevance and validity of urban compactness in the case of Turkey as a developing Eurasian country. For this end, the evolution of urban compactness as a fact and an idea in the historical context of developed countries and it&rsquo / s meaning for the developing world / Ankara is examined as a case study by re-reading its planning history and the transformation of its urban form from the point of view of compactness.

Urban public spaces have always been subjected to physical, economical,social, political and cultural transformations of the city. These changing dynamics could cause decay in the spatial qualities and could also lead to a loss of values and identities of urban spaces, especially in public spaces. This thesis explores the qualities of a particular urban space in Istanbul: the Emin&ouml / n&uuml / Square. Providing a guideline for the future urban design projects,the structure and the identity of the historical public space is aimed in this thesis. Firstly, in order to evaluate the qualities of urban public space a method of analysis has been developed in the study. For this purpose, the urban design theories and their methodologies of analysis have been discussed with respect to three main headings: urban form, urban activity and urban image. Furthermore, as parallel to this purpose, the criteria of the quality of urban space are developed by the help of the morphological, visual and perceptual analyses. In the second stage, the formation-transformation processes of the Emin&ouml / n&uuml / Square, spatial dynamics and urban operations have been discussed within the framework of the method of analysis in a historical aspect. The results of the analyses show that the spatial dynamics and the urban operations affected the quality of the Square negatively in all formal, visual,social and perceptual aspects. In other words, the Emin&ouml / n&uuml / Square lost its well-defined formal structure and transformed to a space which is deprived of activity structure and legible identity.

This study explores incidents in a spatial and temporal context to achieve suitable strategies for urban planning and policing in crime prevention/reduction. For this purpose, space and time related incidents are analyzed through new crime ecology theories within the designed loose-coupled GIS-based system at mezo-micro ecological levels in a case area within Ankara Metropolis, in 2000. Its main argument is that incidents display differences in the spatial and/or temporal distribution among planned, squatter, and in-transition settlements. In exploring distribution of incidents at global and local scales, it also searches the validity and critical adaptability of the new theories developed/practiced in North American and European countries. In line with new theories, incidents at global scale displayed clustering in space and time. Generally, incidents in aggregate, concentrated mostly in planned / less in in-transition / least in squatter areas / and particularly during spring-summer months. However, incidents against people and against property predominated respectively in squatter and planned areas, and between 18:00-00:00, and 00:00-08:00. As for local scale, incidents in aggregate, displayed spatial interaction (clustering), but no space-time interaction. Spatial distribution in time suggested that incidents persistently occur mainly in planned areas. v Incidents against property displayed highest level of spatial, and also temporal clustering at global scale / and particularly spatial clustering (particularly for commercial burglaries/thefts) and space-time clustering (for residential burglaries) at local scale. Complementarily, relatively homogenous global scale spatial distribution of incidents against people is accompanied by their non local scale spatial clustering or space-time clustering, whereby space-time dispersion was observed for simple batteries.

Coastal urban settlements require a special planning approach since they bring the concepts of &ldquo / urban&rdquo / and &ldquo / coastal&rdquo / together. In relation to the specific contents of these concepts, there are also different models of management plans. &ldquo / Urban Disaster Risk Management&rdquo / and &ldquo / Integrated Coastal Zone Management&rdquo / are two of them. Urban Disaster Risk Management model deals with the planning and management problems of urban settlements in the case of disaster risk conditions. Likewise, Integrated Coastal Zone Management model focuses on the whole coastal area and deals with the sustainable use and protection of all types of coastal resources. However, in case of urban coastal settlements, these models of management plans can be valid together, can overlap, and they can even conflict with each other. In this thesis study, these two models of management plan and their coexistence are considered. A Coastal Area Assessment Model is set up and applied for Iskenderun case. This model provides a detailed spatial analysis opportunity in planning and management of coastal urban settlement. Therefore the model offers a significant input for the planning process through determining urban and coastal risks at the same time. Coastal Area Assessment Model is a tool which takes both Urban Disaster Risk Management and Integrated Coastal Zone Management models&rsquo / concerns into account and evaluates the coastal settlement in terms of urban risk sectors and coastal management issues. This study also introduces an approach on classification of the coastal areas and coastal urban settlements while setting up the Coastal Area Assessment Model. Coastal Area Assessment Model becomes an advantageous tool since it has significant contributions to the planning process by making a simple risk analysis and guiding the proper utilization and protection of the population, built environment, and resources of the coastal areas. Risk sectors, coastal management issues, critical and prior intervention areas of a coastal urban settlement are easily determined, and preparation of development plans of a coastal settlement is guided by the implementation of Coastal Area Assessment Model. In addition to these, general principles on planning and management of coastal settlements are determined by the implementation of the model for the implementation conditions of Urban Disaster Risk Management model, Integrated Coastal Zone Management model, and the Coastal Area Assessment Model in Turkey are also discussed and presented.