The aim of this thesis is to understand the conservation and transformation problems of railway heritage and to prepare a conservation and transformation principles for Iskenderun railway area. Primarily, it is tried to understand the historical process and the current situation of conservation of railway areas. In addition, in this study theoretical and historical framework of transformation of railway areas is developed in the light of international charters and documents. Transformation examples from Turkey and Europe were searched with analyzing the railway system and transformation approaches of the countries. In order to prepare a conservation and transformation principles for Iskenderun terminus area, considering the direct relation of the railway site with the port site, a wide border including the port for the study area is chosen and a detailed analyzes were done for whole area. For this study, the major concern is establishing strong principles in different scales. It is important to guide each conservation and transformation projects in Turkey. For rooted solutions, regulations have to start in the transformation strategies and railway policy.

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.