With the development of the concept of disability and consequently rehabilitation concept, today&amp / #8217 / s achievements of rehabilitation centers are perceived different from the traditional ones. Conventional approach of rehabilitation was aiming at improving functional deficiencies of people with disabilities with the help of medical treatment. Within the last two decades depending upon the increasing in the awareness of idea of inclusivity in society there has been developed a shift from traditional medical based approach to more social based ones where rehabilitation has been perceived as a process to enhance the &amp / #8216 / quality of life&amp / #8217 / rather than a process of a medical curation of people with diverse disabilities. The new social-based rehabilitation approach refers community based rehabilitation strategy that aims to integrate various sectors of social life for the achievement of an effective rehabilitation while promoting inclusion of people with less or severe disabilities in social life. It is stated in this thesis that the architectural program of a community-based rehabilitation centers can be elaborated with the parameters of Universal Design (UD) which not only responds to the shift in community-based rehabilitation approach while promoting inclusion in the society, but also has a potential to advance spacial formative characteristics of related centers in a more descriptive way. The ideas of equity and participation are the significant parameters of UD that are referred in the thesis in order to elaborate the supportive social services of an architectural program and to investigate spatial characteristics of community-based rehabilitation centers.

EVALUATING TWO SHOPPING CENTERS IN THE LIGHT OF PRINCIPLES OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN Sev&uuml / k, Muhammet Sancar M. of Arch., Department of Architecture Supervisor of the thesis: Prof. Dr. Vacit Imamoglu April 2011, 156 Pages Starting from the second half of the 20th century, the number of aged people and people with aging-related disabilities has increased significantly in the world. Parallel to this increase, special projects have been developed for aged people in the developed countries, but with these projects aged people were often excluded from society. People with disabilities were already living isolated from society. With the effect of raising awareness in the public after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, in the course of the last sixty years studies have been realized and new standards and principles have been developed for elderly people and people with disabilities to benefit from the social life equally together with everyone and to raise their quality of life. Starting with the barrier-free design approach, a new period improving and changing the view point of design from general and private design to design for all, to inclusive and/or the universal design has begun. In the thesis, this period has been reviewed through the summarized definitions of these stages. The effects of these improvements have been related to the design and construction of the built environments and buildings. Therefore, people with disabilities started to participate in the society more than ever. The implementation of principles of the Universal Design in the public buildings, especially to hospitals, cultural centers and shopping centers has gained more importance in order to advance full social integration of people with disabilities to the society. Number of shopping centers in Turkey increased rapidly after 1995. In this thesis, two examples were examined and evaluated in the light of universal design principles. The problems faced in these buildings were examined in order to design more inclusive buildings and environments. A brief history of shopping centers was presented. Brief information about some examples of old bazaars from Anatolia and shopping centers from different countries were given.