Ce travail s'inscrit dans le processus de développement d'un dispositif de traitement de composés organiques volatils (COV) par plasma non-thermique. L'application industrielle des dispositifs de dépollution par plasma froid se heurte à deux limitations majeures que sont une consommation énergétique importante et la formation de sous-produits. Deux axes d'amélioration de l'efficacité énergétique du procédé à décharges sur barrière diélectrique sont explorés dans ce travail de thèse : le mode de dépôt d'énergie dans la décharge et le couplage du réacteur plasma avec un dispositif catalytique. Concernant le premier axe, l'étude a montré que dans le cas des réacteurs DBD étudiés, le paramètre gouvernant la réactivité chimique du plasma à pression atmosphérique était la densité d'énergie, qu'il s'agisse de production d'ozone ou d'élimination d'un COV de la phase gazeuse. L'étude chimique des sous-produits de dégradation par décharge a été conduite pour trois molécules cibles : l'éthanol, l'acétone et la méthyléthylcétone. Dans le cas de l'éthanol, un schéma cinétique 0D est proposé, montrant l'importance de la dissociation dans les mécanismes de dégradation du COV. Pour le second axe exploré, le réacteur plasma a été couplé à un catalyseur. Deux formulations de catalyseurs ont été utilisées, avec et sans métaux précieux. Dans les deux cas, l'activation du catalyseur à basse température par couplage avec le réacteur plasma est démontrée. La dernière partie de l'étude présente les résultats obtenus sur un réacteur plasma à échelle pilote visant à estimer l'impact de l'augmentation des capacités de traitement d'un réacteur DBD sur l'efficacité énergétique du procédé.

Transformation of informal housing settlements by urban renewal and redevelopment has become one of the major tasks of Turkish urban policy in the last decades. Nevertheless, in some cases urban redevelopment could not be facilitated due to low level of investments / and moreover most of the transformed settlements are still problematic with added difficulties brought out by urban transformation itself such as lower levels of physical quality, gentrification or dislocation. Understanding the sources of these implications and incompetence would be an important step for developing more successful policy and planning tools. To serve this aim, hypothesizing that there would be available regulatory tools including planning besides policy options relying on finance for local and central authorities and planning institutions on the basis of their political and regulative power and resources to overcome most of these bottlenecks / I have carried out both a theoretical and an empirical research to discuss the relevancy of this hypothesis. First, I have developed an institutional model of urban transformation to unravel the constituent shaping factors and actors of the process. Secondly, I have implemented this model for the analyses of urban transformation in informal settlements in Turkey with a case study in Sentepe and carried out surveys with households and interviews with developers to focus more on household and developer perspectives in terms of their aims and the implications they have an impact upon and are subjected to. Thus, this thesis includes an institutional analysis of urban transformation in informal settlements of Turkey, outlines the major problems of implications, discusses the links between factors, actors, events and their implications and accordingly searches for clues of efficient policies and better practices in urban transformation with a case study in Sentepe Neighbourhood. The findings of the empirical study revealed that first and foremost, the problem of disinvestment and very low levels of transformation in the area have been solved dramatically by a new &#039 / project&#039 / by the local authority in 2005, after almost twenty years passed since the first redevelopment plans were prepared. Moreover, the results indicate that the Sentepe Transformation Project could also managed to avoid the well-known unintended or undesirable social outcomes of a typical redevelopment like dislocation of residents or social integration of initial and new residents. These findings of the research suggest that local authorities and planning institutions could avoid some but not all of the bottlenecks and drawbacks of market mechanism in urban redevelopment even by making minor changes in the institutional environment such as providing information flow, easing the procedures for investors and developers, changing subdivisions and planning additional green areas for increasing the attractiveness of investments by builders in that area, and adoption of more participative approaches for developers and households. On the other hand, if the complementary housing and non-housing policies for redevelopment / such as affordable housing, employment or rent assistance are lacking, some of the outlined problems remain hard to solve. For local authorities and planners, these findings suggest the importance of accommodating policies, which are more responsive to the locality, to the needs and perceptions of local residents, local developers and local economy as well as of considering vulnerable sections of the society. For central authorities, on the other hand, the findings underline the cruciality of upper scale policies both directly and indirectly related to housing such as affordable housing and employment in the overall success of any local urban redevelopment practice. Once we have the institutional model to imply on various urban renewal processes, it would be helpful to carry out comparative studies for future research to better understand and evaluate various policy tools.

Historic commercial centres are subject to continuous change and transformation due to the changing socio-economic and cultural structure and relations of production and consumption. Organized within a traditional structure, these spaces have survived until today with their altering meanings and different identities as well as the restructuration they went through because of the socio-economic transformation processes. Besides, they are not only shopping areas or consumption spaces but also urban areas with a traditional style of manufacture and crafts. Theoretical discussions on the conservation of historic city centres focus on issues such as integration of city centres into contemporary life with functions that do not have adverse effects on the authentic characteristics of historic streets and urban fabrics, the role of new functions, activities and structures in the historic fabric, and participation in the conservation process. Historic buildings adopt functions that are different from their original functions due to changing life styles. Having functioned in a well-organized order and shaped by the socio-cultural and economic structure of their eras, they are subject to interventions due to the functions required by the present conditions, such as the addition of a mezzanine or the establishment of a connection between spaces. As a result of these interventions, the original plan schemes and authentic characteristics of historic buildings have changed. This thesis aims at identifying the types of commercial functions that intervene into the authentic design characteristics of commercial buildings located in the historic commercial centre. To this end, the Commercial Centre of Bursa was chosen as the case and the change in the functions of the hans located in this area was examined in detail.

Of the seven existing classes of serotonin receptors, the 5-HT7 receptors (5-HT7Rs) are the most recently discovered. Abundance of 5-HT7 in the central nervous system is suggestive of the receptor’s role in several physiological and pathophysiological functions. Existing research has afforded a number of compounds exhibiting specific affinity to the receptor. These selective ligands can provide structural information about the receptor and can serve as the foundation for pharmacological profiling . This thesis describes the synthesis of substituted pyrimidines and pyridines for affinity to the 5-HT7 receptor. Organometallic species are the cornerstone for sev-eral of the synthetic pathways.

The thesis investigates the early phases of apartment block development in Istanbul, which took place in the second half of the 19th century. Apartment block development represents a unique process in Istanbul. It not only reflects the &ldquo / west-oriented&rdquo / side of the Ottoman Empire but also sheds light on the transformation of urban fabric from pre-modern to modern. The emergence of apartment blocks in Istanbul, hence, does not simply imply the adoption of a &ldquo / western&rdquo / and &ldquo / modern&rdquo / life, but also reflect a spatial transformation. To clarify this unique process, the thesis studies the social and spatial aspects of apartment block development from 1889 to 1922. The study uses the Annuaire Orientals related to the years of 1889, 1893, 1896, 1910 and 1922. Through the use of the Annuaire data, it investigates on the &lsquo / social profile&rsquo / of the early apartment residents and &lsquo / spatial setting&rsquo / of apartment blocks. Doing this, the study aims to shed light on the socio-spatial differentiation behind the apartment block development.

For several decades, Turkey has witnessed increasing investments in housing. There is evidence that some households benefited from this increase. The transfer of housing assets today is also an extensive social and economic phenomenon different from the traditional processes. There are several issues related to this process the most significant being the universal concern for its contribution to wealth polarization. Supply impacts in the markets are other aspect of the same process. Since greater accumulation of housing wealth has pooled in the hands of household heads aging 50 and more, the process of housing wealth transfers will gain significance soon. No extensive study of this process has yet been made. After reviewing the factors affecting the process of wealth transfers and elaborating the institutional background of inheritance, the intergenerational property transfers in Turkey are examined with the 1994 Households Income and Consumption Expenditures Survey, The Population Census and The Death Statistics of Turkey. It is possible to develop a model to investigate the number of potential benefactors and beneficiaries and, the prospective property transferred in one year as a result of inheritance. Then, the amount of transfer taxes by Ministry of Finance could be compared with taxes realized for the same year, as one method of exploring problems of process of housing inheritance in Turkey. The results depict that in one year 30 477 individual property owners die and approximately 102 000 individuals benefit. It is concluded that property wealth is in general transferred to those who are already homeowners. It is observed that the amount to be taken by the Treasury as inheritance tax should be 13 times greater than the actual amount transferred. And finally, it is concluded that taxation system should not be the only solution for the problems in inheritance processes, but Reverse Mortgage may be a solution for transmission of wealth inequalities and for the efficient use of inherited property. It is also mentioned that inherited properties may be pilot areas for new rehabilitation projects for declining neighborhoods.

Chronic seismic hazards and resulting secondary impacts as natural conditions of the country, and loss of robust building and prudent settlement practices as aggravated by rapid population growth make cities the most vulnerable geographical and social entities in Turkey. In contrast, Turkish disaster policy is solely focused on post-disaster issues and no incentives or provision exist to encourage risk analysis or risk mitigation approaches, despite current international efforts. For the development of risk reduction policies an essential step is to prioritize settlements according to their vulnerability levels. This could be determined by hazard probabilities and attributes of the building stock of each settlement. Measurement of vulnerability levels allows the ordering of settlements into risk categories. Vulnerability levels of settlements are then assumed to depend on a number of attributes of cities to explore if vulnerability could be related to a set of urban properties. Results of statistical analyses indicate that total building loss is related to the ratio of population over the total number of buildings in mid-range settlements, and directly related to population in metropolitan cities. Relative loss on the other hand is related with rate of agglomeration and development index in almost every size category of settlements. Observations provide guiding principles for effective mitigation practices in Turkey by ordering settlements and offer means of differential implementation. These could contribute to improved safety measures in urban standards, building codes, building supervision procedures, insurance systems, investment priorities, and Law (6306) on Redevelopment of Areas under Disaster Risk.

In 1970&rsquo / s, significant shifts occurred both in planning and design theories as a response to the decreasing role of state in property relations and widening arena of private property. This shift in planning approaches led to an increase in the importance of &lsquo / flexibility&rsquo / concept. However this study proposes that flexibility in the control of spatial development is not an indisputable solution, but rather it is a dilemma. This is because / the definition, degree and effect of flexibility may change in every step of the process depending on the actors in the process. While it may be a way of solution in one case, it may be the problem itself in another. In the study, this dilemma is discussed in the context of spatial development in science parks. The concept of flexibility has a particular importance in respect to science parks which host especially technology based firms. Due to market changes and technology shifts, the spatial requirements of market and also the tenants change in time rapidly. That is why flexibility becomes a necessary tool in the physical planning of science parks. In this context, firstly the role flexibility in different planning and decision-making approaches is discussed. Then the structural characteristics of science parks and specifically METU Technopolis are defined. Within this framework, the physical development process of METU Technopolis and the role of flexibility in planning and decision making processes is examined. Finally some suggestions for controlling the flexibility in planning and design processes are developed.

This thesis analyzes the inherent informal political relations embedded in urban planning process in the city of Ankara between 1985 and 2005. It has been argued that, urban planning process is -by nature- a political process and micro level political interactions in urban political sphere can be observed by looking at it. The urban planning process, as a political process interacts with existing political mobilization mechanisms and their spatial reflections. Such an interaction may cause emergence of informal political networks interested in derivation of urban land rent. The emergence, sustenance and persistence of these networks are related with the opportunities and legitimization potential of urban planning process. For the verification of hypothesis of the research the city of Ankara was taken as the subject of case study. A methodology consisting of a two phase research is devised to analyze the nature and the dynamics of these networks In the first phase a conventional statistical analysis the research universe consisting of all the all urban development plans and modifications realized in Ankara between 1985 and 2005 was realized. Then, in the second phase based on the patterns explored in the research universe, a specific example of urban planning process was chosen, which represents the patterns of the research universe. This example, &Ccedil / ayyolu 907 Parcel, then subjected to social network analysis. The results of the research has shown that, when the structure of the local political structure changes altogether as a result of for example local elections, the structure of existing informal political networks and the way they exploit urban land rent changes. In these periods the number of urban development plans and urban development plan modifications increase, while the size of the area covered by these plans tends to decrease and mostly confined to prospective areas in central business district and residential areas. Yet, by the time passes, new and diverse political relations are established congruent with the existing political mobilization mechanisms. This time, although the number of plans decreases, the size of the area covered by plans increase and mostly, vacant land in the fringe of the urban macro form become the target of these networks. Although these networks involve a hierarchy in it, extensive brokerage and patron client relations sustain them.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the effectiveness of cross-border cooperation as a tool for local/regional development of underdeveloped border regions, and whether it is appropriate for Turkey&rsquo / s border regions. The basic statement is that the trajectories of intense economic relations do not always let cross-border co-operation / it can develop through supportive policies fed by the active participation of cross-border actors. The scope of this study is, - to examine changing theoretical ideas about borders and border relations, - to review some of the important changes affecting the cross-border cooperations / and the implications of transformations in the global mechanisms through new network relations determined within the multi-level governance approach, - to develop a framework for analysing the success of cross-border cooperation, - to discuss the cross-border co-operation trajectories through the world experiences and Turkish case, - to search for a new model This study will focus on a set of theoretical tools involving independent dimensions such as governance, economy and social structure. Along these theoretical perspectives, the importance of a cross-border co-operation for local/regional development will be emphasised through the case of Hopa-Batumi border region. Handling of this case will be an attempt to put forward the opportunities and barriers of a cross-border co-operation for Turkish border regions. This study is developed by the examination of theoretical literature, generating comparative analysis of world experiences with reference to available literature, and Turkish border regions executed with the newspapers archives and legal arrangements, and case study through in-depth interviews.