Today, countries are leading the leadership of local governments in the field of local politics. Along with transformations in the international arena, traditional approaches to public administration are being transformed, long-standing applied practices and procedures are questioned, and innovations in democratic and managerial practice are increasing. Besides these, the role and purpose of the elected local authorities is re-glanced and reshaped. The international arena has shown a significant increase in the number of regional networks of local authorities, based on common economic, sectoral and regional interests. This also led to a concentration of national-specific approaches to different stakeholder groups, particularly in the context of countries’ local politics and local democracy. On the other hand, the high level of insecurity in political institutions, a growing sense of weakness among many citizens, indicates that judge democratic governance systems are not sufficient for collective dialogue and learning. At this point, different applications and institutions have gained importance in public governance systems. Circular institutional arrangements in some European countries and the City Councils are these. A citizen-centered circular design with a large number of participants and significant consensus points on which the ideas of different participants are expressed. The main purpose here is to increase the capacity of governance and at the same time to learn the current organization. The aim of the study is to demonstrate the changing citizens’ roles by informing about the practices that are evaluated together with the developments in public administration.

The debates and literature on what is publicness and how it is formed have been developed substantially in the studies from the domain of social sciences. In all these studies, the concept of the public sphere is used to describe the various aspects that reach beyond the physical limits of publicness. Within this approach, the production and (re)production of publicness and public spheres are independent of the physical space by the expression of a communicative phenomenon. However, the aspects of publicness that reach beyond the physical limits do not deny or disregard the existence of conventional public spaces in a given urban pattern. On the other hand, while cities provide a spatial interface for social processes bringing diverse communities and activities together, simultaneously social processes define and transform cities spatially. In other words, it is not possible to picture a communication process between people independently of space. In accordance, the main motivation of this study is to open a theoretical discussion on the publicness and the communicative nature of urban space in a broad perspective. The motivation aims to develop an approach that broadens the social perspective on spatial practices in the organization of urban spaces.

Kýrsal alandan kentsel alanlara göçlerin artmasýyla birlikte kentleþme olgusu ortaya çýkmýþtýr. Artan kentleþmenin neticesinde konut ihtiyacý da artmýþ ve sonuçta konut üretimi de hýzlanmýþtýr. 2000’li yýllarýn baþýna kadar hýzlý nüfus artýþýna raðmen ayný oranda artmayan konut stoku, kýrdan kente göçen nüfusun kendi barýnma ihtiyacýný büyük ölçüde kent çeperinde hazine veya özel araziler üzerine yasadýþý konutlar inþa ederek karþýlamaya itmiþtir. Bununla birlikte yasal olarak yapýlmasýna engel bulunmayan fakat çeþitli sebeplerden dolayý tamamlanamayan veya kontrolden geçemeyen konut projeleri de bulunmaktadýr. Alýnan tedbirlere raðmen kentlerimizdeki kaçak yapýlaþma ve gecekondu üretimi olanca hýzýyla devam etmiþtir. Kentsel alanlarýn yönetiminden sorumlu olan yerel yönetimler çeþitli sebeplerle kaçak yapýlaþmayý engelleyememiþtir. Günümüzde ise alýnan tedbirler neticesinde gecekondulaþma oraný gittikçe azalmýþtýr. Hukuki olarak kaçak sayýlan bu yapýlarda oturanlarýn imar, elektrik doðalgaz, su ve kanalizasyon, ulaþým gibi kentsel alt yapý ihtiyaçlarýnýn giderilmesinde ve vergilerin toplanmasýnda ciddi sorunlar yaþanmaktadýr. Kaçak yapýlaþma ve gecekondu üretimine yönelik tedbirlerin (Tarihsel ve alansal sýnýrlamalar) alýnmamasý ya da tedbirlerin (Ör. Yýkým kararlarý) yeterince uygulanmamasý kaçak yapýlaþma ve gecekondulaþmayý hýzlandýrmýþtýr. Bu durumun oluþmasýnýn temel sebebi yerel yönetimlerin siyasi geleceklerini devam ettirebilmek için bazý kaçak yapýlarý görmezden gelmesidir. Bu sorunlarý çözebilmek için geçmiþten günümüze kadar çeþitli imar aflarý çýkartýlmýþtýr. Bu aflardan en yenisi olan ve kamuoyunda ‘Ýmar Barýþý’ olarak da bilenen düzenleme “7143 sayýlý Vergi ve Diðer Bazý Alacaklarýn Yeniden Yapýlanmasý ile Bazý Kanunlarda Deðiþiklik Yapýlmasýna Ýliþkin Kanun” dur. Bu kanunun 16. Maddesi gereðince 31/12/2017 öncesinde yapýlan ruhsatsýz veya ruhsat ve eklerine aykýrý yapýlarýn kayýt altýna alýnmasý amaçlanmýþtýr. Bu çalýþmanýn amacý; Türkiye’de imar affý sürecini ve eylemlerini yönlendiren yasal ve yönetimsel faaliyetleri ele alarak “Ýmar Barýþý” düzenlemesinin yerel yönetimler düzeyinde hukuki, sosyal, ekonomik etkilerini analiz etmektir. Çalýþmada, Türkiye’de imar affý konusuna iliþkin yasal ve yönetimsel yapýnýn tarihsel süreç içerisinde karþýlaþtýrmalý analizini içeren bir yöntem izlenmiþtir. Bu baðlamada çalýþmanýn Türkiye’de imar sorunlarýnýn çözümüne yönelik alternatif model arayýþlarýna katkýda bulunacaðý düþünülmektedir.

Metropolitan cities in Turkey have been re-organized to play a significant role for global capital as result of the neoliberal process after the 1980s. Consequently, the spatial structure has also undergone a change and transformation. Localization, which is an indispensable part of Turkey integration process into the global capital through cities since the 2000s, has been determinant in setting up the basic policies to govern the ongoing change and transformation of metropolitan cities. Like many countries, the construction sector has been purposely supported used as a political tool for the development of macroeconomics in Turkey as well. In this regard, direct and indirect public infrastructure investments, legal and administrative arrangements, simplification of planning and zoning, and decentralization, deregulation and re-regulation of the state have all been used as steps taken to overcome the obstacles against acceleration of the accumulation rate. Urban regeneration practices, as spatial constants facilitating the accumulation strategy aimed at the commodification of space, became the key tool in planning practices while the authority of zoning and planning was transferred to local administrations to a great extent. Decentralization became the central strategy that paved the way for public-private cooperation. As an example of this strategy in Bursa, the authority for approval of the buildings at risk was transferred to Bursa Metropolitan Municipality. The main purpose of this study is to reveal the effects of this shift in authority upon urban space in Bursa. In this context, the method to be followed in the study is to determine the parcels with risky buildings and to analyze the data on the approved plan amendments within the scope of periodic, spatial distribution and concentration trends and their impact upon urban space. The findings obtained in this study reveal that the process of liberalization and deregulation of planning and zoning processes through the empowerment of local authority to loosen the barriers to capital within the scope of neoliberal policies has led to loss of public benefit in urban regeneration practices, while focusing on economic expectations and decreasing urban living standards as it mostly takes place in areas not requiring emergent intervention.

Social life takes place in public spaces such as streets and squares. Public spaces; accumulates traces of public life and creates “public memory”. Urban spaces, which are the symbols of the past or the root of the public memory, are effective in building urban belonging. When the squares are accepted as one of the important representatives of social life; It is important to examine the role of squares in providing urban belonging and the effects of formal changes in squares on the feelings of root and belonging. The aim of this study is to examine the role of urban squares in public memory and their effects on urban belonging. In this context, the study was conducted on Trabzon-Municipality Square scale. In Trabzon city scale; Municipality Square, which has continuity in the context of spatial and historical continuity, its role in social life, its position in the city, has been considered as a study area. Research data; The survey was conducted in Trabzon Municipality Square during August-2016 with 50 people and cognitive mapping methods were performed on 37 people. The numerical data were evaluated statistically. Data obtained from cognitive mapping were evaluated in the context of social cognition mapping. It is seen that concepts such as trust in urban areas, space recognition and spatial experience support spatial and urban belonging. Depending on the spatial experience, the degree of attachment to the square varies.

Industrial heritage today is being taken even more seriously by academes. It is due to the instituting of heritage studies across humanities, social sciences and natural sciences and developments in contemporary archaeology. Industrial heritage is broadly defined by many specialists after Nizhny Tagil Charter (2003) as consisting of “the remains of industrial culture which are of historical, technological, social, architectural or scientific value”. Meantime, industrial heritage comprises more then just material culture, but also valuable intangible forms of heritage. In the case of factories as the products of early industrial developments in Turkish Republic during 20’s and 50’s, they provide us important insights about the structural alteration in culture and social life in the region. Lives in factories and their campus areas were the representation of transforming identities of young republic. Therefore, preserving and conserving of such sites should consider not just the building itself but tangible and intangible heritages values together. Temporal layers including the time when the factory was still active, when it was abandoned and spatial layers including living and working quarters of industrial sites should be equally transmitted to various targets groups. This project considers how digital visualization contributes to perception of visitors with maintaining cultural mediation in SEKA Paper Museum situated former pulp and paper mill in Kocaeli district.

The relationship between the socio-economic factors and the organization of urban space has not received adequate attention in the literature. This study aims to answer the question: Is the organization of urban space associated with social and economic characteristics? The city of Izmir, Turkey, has been selected as the study area and the neighborhoods over 300 in number are grouped into 6 clusters based on their similarities pertaining to the social and economic indicators using hierarchical cluster analysis. The neighborhoods which are closest to the cluster centers selected as the cluster representatives. The organization of space in the representative neighborhoods is quantified using graph theory indices. The results from the ANOVA performed at the global level (or at the neighborhood level) and the post hoc Fisher’s least significant difference tests performed at the local level (or at the node or edge level) both reveal that neighborhoods with different social and economic characteristics have different spatial organizations, and they are different in terms of the network accessibility levels measured through graph theory indices. The findings clearly indicate more developed social and economic conditions co-exist with more developed network topologies. The empirical findings of the present study put forward that the planning process is far from providing similar urban spatial organizations for people that differ in social and economic characteristics, and that is a major real-life problem. It is clear that we cannot and should not enforce similar spatial layouts in all neighborhoods, but we can work for achieving a heterogeneous social and economic structure within each neighborhood through urban policies and development plans. The method described in this study can then be used to assess the degree of success in achieving this aim.

As rare living examples of Istanbul’s long-standing vegetable gardening tradition dating from the Byzantine period, Yedikule vegetable gardens are located within the borders of the Historic Areas of Ýstanbul in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Surrounding the historic land walls, these vegetable gardens are on the agenda since 2013 with plans to transform them into parks and recreation areas. Although this may appear contradictory to the World Heritage status of the vegetable gardens at first glance, these gardens are considered to be ‘green spaces’ surrounding the land walls and do not have a protection status. Based on in-depth interviews with Yedikule vegetable gardeners, this article aims to discuss the steps that can be taken in the presence of the convention to address and protect the vegetable gardening tradition together with the land walls through a cultural landscape approach. The category of cultural landscapes that was created in 1992 has enabled the identification and protection of both tangible and intangible characteristics of an area as a World Heritage site. Yedikule vegetable gardening has been carried on with traditional methods and techniques for generations, and cultural landscape category offers an opportunity for its protection as an organically evolved continuing landscape, together with the land walls with which it has co-existed for centuries. Such a change will provide the possibility to generate national and international public opinion to sustain vegetable gardening tradition and to develop policies and projects to support gardeners as heritage bearers and involve them in the decision-making processes.

Unique urban design can create different places with unforgettable and eye-catching spaces that give a sense of identity. What makes a place’s identity memorable for people is its distinctive character, which distinguishes it from other places. No matter how good a building’s design is, it can’t change its bad surroundings by itself. However, wellorganized urban spaces with structural and natural landscape areas can contribute to reducing the deficiencies or ugliness in the design of a building. Solutions should be produced by considering the city as a whole. In this context, the visual and structural quality of the walls in the city is as important as all the city structures. In this study, the walls along the road to the city center of Artvin were examined in terms of visual quality. Retaining walls have played an essential part in the infrastructure of hilly and mountainous regions around the world as Artvin City. In this study, the views of the inhabitants of the city on the walls are questioned visually by the Semantic Differentiation Method. With the selected adjective pairs, the perceptions of the inhabitants about the walls they see every day are questioned. According to the results, if the walls are improved in direction with the results obtained, it is stated that it may be an important value for the city.