This thesis aims at analyzing the strategic spatial planning, which has received widespread acceptance both in developed and developing countries. Turkey is one of the countries that has been trying to adopt this new tendency. Recently, Provincial Development Planning has been introduced into the Turkish planning system as a stratgeic planning attempt. This thesis evaluates the Sanliurfa Provincial Development Planning case with respect to a set of criteria / underlines the role of continent factors (specific actors in the process and their roles) in the satisfaction of these criteria / and highlights the role of place-specific factors (quality of social capital, level of economic development) in the planning process. The strategic planning is not merely concerned with the plannng process / but also with implementation and monitoring stages. Therefore, the thesis stresses that these three integral stages --planning, implementation, monitoring-- should be eqaully considered with agents, roles and resources so that the plans can be implemented.

This thesis examine the problems in the transformation process of Kaziki&ccedil / i Bostanlari, which was planned as a &ldquo / central development area&rdquo / after 1970&rsquo / s, in terms of the Ankara city center problematic. For Kaziki&ccedil / i Bostanlari, which shows the transition zone character, decisions were taken by three Master Plans to be new Central Business District and for the application a Development plan was prepared. But starting from the 1970&rsquo / s the area has been going on its development according to its inner dynamics. In this thesis, first, theories about CBD are analyzed. Then, general characteristics of Ankara city center and Kaziki&ccedil / i Bostanlari and interventions to Kaziki&ccedil / i Bostanlari in respect to the CBD transformations are discussed. Finally, Kaziki&ccedil / i Bostanlari and its current situation in terms of transition zone characteristics, and threats and opportunities concerning the CBD transformation are evaluated.

The urban space is subjected to countless transformations depending on multiple reasons such as urban planning decisions, the administrative system and regulations. In this context, the aim of this thesis is to reveal the spatial transformation of an urban area at the conjunction of the old and new districts of a historical city. A morphological analysis method depending on quantitative and qualitative chaarcteristics will be utilized to understand its changing spatiality.

Urban planning has witnessed the profound changes in the methodologies of modelling during the last 50 years. Spatial interaction models have passed from social physics, statistical mechanics to non-spatial and spatial information processing stages of progress that can be designated as paradigm shifts. This thesis traces the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) approach in urban planning as pioneered by Wilson (1967,1970) and Spatial Entropy concept by Batty (1974) based on the Information Theory and its developments by Shannon (1948), Jaynes (1957), Kullback (1959) and by Tribus (1962,1969). Information-theoric methods have provided the theoretical foundation for challenging the uncertainty and incomplete information issues concerning the complex urban structure. MaxEnt, as a new logic, gives probabilities maximally noncommittal with regard to missing information. Wilson (1967,1970) has replaced the Newtonian analogy by the entropy concept from statistical mechanics to alleviate the mathematical inconsistency in the gravity model and developed a set of spatial interaction models consistent with the known information. Population density distribution as one of the determinants of the urban structure has been regarded as an exemplar to show the paradigm changes from the analysis of density gradients to the probabilistic description of density distributions by information-theoric methods. Spatial Entropy concept has introduced the spatial dimension to the Information Theory. Thesis applies Spatial Entropy measures to Ankara 1970 and 1990 census data by 34 zones and also obtains Kullback&rsquo / s Information Gain measures for population changes during the two decades. Empirical findings for Spatial Entropy measures show that overall Ankara-1970 and 1990 density distributions are &lsquo / &rsquo / Uneven&rsquo / &rsquo / and the uniform distribution hypothesis is not confirmed. These measures also indicate a tendency towards &ldquo / More Uniformity&rdquo / for density distributions in comparison to 1970. Information Gain measure for population changes also deviates from zero and direct proportionality hypothesis between posterior 1990 and prior 1970 population distributions by zones is not confirmed. Current research is focused on information processing with more engagement in the urban spatial structure and human behavior. This thesis aims to participate with these efforts and concludes that Information Theory has the potential to generate new profound changes in urban planning and modelling processes.

The rapid development in tourism sector in Turkey after 1980s led to an uncontrolled and unplanned development in the small settlements close to the tourism development areas. This is the result of the incrementalist tourism planning understanding emerged as the consequence of not considering the small settlements as a part of tourism development scenarios. Within the thesis, the tourism development areas and the economic, social, cultural and spatial relations of small settlements surrounding are discussed. It is emphasized that the concept of tourism is quite comprehensive and it is claimed that tourism legislation and tourism planning should be prepared taking into account that comprehensive tourism description. The questions, whether a role is described for small settlements in the tourism development scenarios in the course of tourism planning experiences of Turkey after 1980s or not, and what kind of approaches the tourism policies include about the development of small settlements are tried to be answered referring to the Tourism Encouragement Law Code: 2634 and Amended Law on Tourism Encouragement Law Code: 4957. The claims that tourism planning in Turkey after 1980s has not been carried out with a comprehensive planning approach and no part is reserved for the small settlements in tourism development scenarios are looked through over Antalya -Belek Tourism Centre and the hypothesis put forward in the thesis are proved through the mentioned sample areas. Moreover, within the scope of this thesis, recommendations and proposals on the legal regulations for the solution of problems determined and on the content of &ldquo / tourism development plans&rdquo / are given.

In Turkey, there is not a comprehensive (integrated) coastal policy. In addition, there are many different policies and legal regulations describing the implementation processes of these policies and institutional structures emerged as the consequences of these regulations concerning the coastal areas. Although there is a coastal law specified for the coasts, the applicability of the rules determining the utilization principles of the coast and shore strip described with this law administratively has always been controversial. In the Constitution, the principle of controlling the coasts and shore strips within the framework of public interest and environmental protection was adopted. The valid Coastal Law necesitates the formation of a uniform spatial pattern in the shore strip described in a stable manner. This situation means that the existing characteristics of small coastal settlements, existed in an integration with the sea throughout the history, were ignored and the relations of these settlements with the sea were disconnected. The main target of the thesis is to put forward and critisize to what extent the spatial pattern desired to constitute with the planning approach proposed in the Law is in service of the public interest and principles of environmental protection in the small coastal settlements. Finally, the implementation problems caused by the Coastal Law in Bozburun are put forward in this thesis. Recommendations are given concerning that the power of planning should be increased in this process and accordingly institutional structure should be rearrenged in stead of the Coastal Law&rsquo / s proposing similar plan decisions for the coastal settlements at any scale.

The 1999 earthquakes revealed serious gaps in the Turkish disaster management system. The lack of coordination and cooperation between governmental and non-governmental organizations, limits in the legal framework and the lack of policies and plans about disaster preparedness and mitigation are basic. It is highly relevant therefore to expose these deficiencies and find which changes are necessary for capacity building in civil initiatives and which policies can be put into practice to form a strong and a sustainable organizational structure between governmental organizations and civil initiatives. This required reconsidering the events of 1999 Marmara earthquakes and civil initiatives&rsquo / activities. The analyses have been made among civil initiatives to expose their objectives, their response to earthquakes and future plans. Futher, this required discussion of the current state of disaster management system and legal structure. Findings are that a number of creative activities of civil initiatives can be observed after the Marmara earthquakes. However, the existing level of collaboration with governmental organizations is inadequate, considering the magnitude of disasters taking place in Turkey and the degree of the people&rsquo / s vulnerability. Efforts such as new draft of law of Turgey Emergency Management General Directorate (TEMGD) seem to provide means to meet the requirements. This draft law could provide the tools to accommodate civil initiatives The law could be revised so as to maintain a legal basis for civil initiatives&rsquo / activities as part of disaster management system indicating that governmental organizations should work together in coordination with civil initiatives. Secondly, to encourage voluntary activities, a number of provisions should be available such as life insurance against accidents for the accredited volunteers. Thirdly, TEGMD should also act to find partners for supporting civil initiatives in their financial, personnel training and management needs. With increasing conviction in the need for participatory approaches and people-oriented developments, civil initiatives are committed to face challenges in mitigating and preparing for the variety of disasters facing Turkey.

The recent developments in urban conservation and urban archaeology have given considerable importance to the presentation of urban archaeological remains to the public in order to raise public awareness for conservation. Parallel to this, in the last decade, urban planners have begun to seek for alternatives for creating sustainable places with the emphasis on sustainable urban development. These two goals of different disciplines meet themselves in the integration of urban archaeological remains to modern town and to modern life in historic town centers. In this context, this thesis aims to discuss how these urban archaeological resources can be integrated to everyday life in historic town centers. This is achieved by investigating two successful European cases Tarragona and Verona, and then discussing their possible contributions to a Turkish case Tarsus.

This thesis explores the spatial transformations of the waterfront &amp / #8211 / an urban frontier - of Durr&euml / s port city in Albania, within a predefined timeframe: before, during and after socialism. Within this framework, a special concern of the thesis is the examination of the impact of political, social and economic actors, as well as the morphological and geographic conditions, which occur when transforming the urban space and environment. Thus, the work is constructed on the basis of cause (urban process) &amp / #8211 / effect (physical change) relation, within a particular period of time. The aim of the study is to understand how space was (re)produced, used and transformed in three different and consecutive systems: pre-socialist, socialist and post-socialist one / and the relations set among actors involved in these process, by making a descriptive and comparative spatial analysis utilizing the constituting physical - programmatic elements of the waterfront as the essential tools of the examination. Along with the information on space production process inherent of three political systems, concentrating the attention on the waterfront as an important element of the urban structure / this work will bring some understanding on subjects related to the actual spatial transformations occurring in the city and it social space. Finally, by affirming the waterfront as an edge condition, the notion of &amp / #8216 / edge&amp / #8217 / and its meaning in the socialist and post-socialist city will be elaborated. Keywords: Waterfront, Edge, Urban Frontier, Port-city, Socialist and Post-socialist City, Spatial Transformation

ABSTRACT LOCAL DYNAMICS IN THE PROCESS OF CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION PROJECTS IN KASTAMONU Aysu Kes M.Sc., Urban Policy Planning and Local Governments Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sibel Kalaycioglu January 2006, 102 pages The aim of this thesis is to understand the local participation dynamics in Turkey, especially in the cities with small populations. The conservation and restoration projects in Kastamonu were chosen as the case in order to achieve this aim. These projects include the restoration and reuse of historical/traditional houses in Turkey. The research was focused on the stakeholders in relation to these projects in order to be able to examine the social processes with regard to the local participation in Kastamonu. The major data collection method of this research was interviews with three groups of stakeholders. These stakeholders were the decision- makers, the owners of the houses, and the local people. For the research, 41 interviews were conducted in November 2004 in Kastamonu. The interviews included questions with regard to perceptions of the respondents about the issues of participation and decision- making dynamics, as well as the conception of sense of place, through the conservation and restoration processes. All these interviews were recorded and transcribed for discourse analysis. There are three major findings of this thesis. Firstly, the stakeholders do not have a consistent perception of what participation is. This leads to the second finding that the level of interaction and the level of participation are low among the stakeholders. Thirdly, the conservation and restoration projects in Kastamonu are perceived as economic investments by the vast majority of people. The heritage and cultural value of the houses are less frequently referred to.