Re-thinking the Relationship Between Natural Conditions and Plans in the Production of New Residential Areas in the Site Selection Process, Case Study: Kucukcekmece - Atakent District

Abstract

Social - economical decisions made by the Turkish governments since 1950s for the purpose of development reflect upon the physical space and zoning decisions are made within this framework. The fact that area planning concept has not been addressed with necessary content and technique so far in our country and environmental arrangement and zoning plans gains without analyzing on a parametrical scale the ecological sensitivity and potentials of natural resources related to all areas across the country and harmony or lack of harmony of their social - economical functions give rise to environmental problems with various contents in water catchment basins that have important natural resource features and high agricultural potential such as Bursa Plain, Adana Plain, Adapazari Plain, Konya Plain, South Eastern Anatolia Basin. Land utilization decisions included in the zoning plans managing the urbanization phenomenon inside the water catchment basins of the areas conflict with the factors such as geological structure, morphological features, climate, and soil characteristics of basins. This phenomenon in the production of new residential areas is experienced in Turkey, also as intense as happened in Istanbul. Natural features of the area in the study were examined for its suitability for construction. Besides, study area's plans have been examined; prepared by utilizing the high resolution orthophotos in Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in 1996, 2009 and 2014; changes in the residential area using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology with the overlay method were evaluated. Finally, conflict between the current urban land use and plans in the study area were evaluated.