The physically, socially and economically negative conditions which take place in the urban areas are the results of deficiencies during the decision-making processes and leading to implementation phases of the urban planning activities. For the purpose of examination the subject in this study, which is dealt with this problem, decision-making processes of the Istanbul Environmental Plan were taken as a sample. In view of the main problem specified herein, this paper aims to examine the Istanbul Environmental Plan, which has been addressed with its decision-making processes, in terms of the success criteria for the plan and compare it with the planning experiences from the similar metropolitans abroad as well as to put forward the problems and deficiencies in this regard. In this paper, London, New York, Lisbon, Montreal and Paris were chosen as the cities which share similarities with Istanbul. Accordingly, Istanbul Environmental Plan and metropolitan plans cited from the abroad were examined; planning processes of Istanbul and those of the other metropolitans were compared by using the plan-process-result method under the light of the success criteria for the plan. The success criteria for the plan which are used in this study are internal coherence, plan relevance to the city needs and ambitions, external coherence, public participation, commitment of human and financial resources and effectiveness of the plan. Elements, problems and deficiencies which come forward in Istanbul experience were found out. Consequently, the Istanbul plan is understood to be lacking especially in terms of the public participation, commitment of human and financial resources and effectiveness of the plan. This study is important since it would guide the scientific researches which will be conducted in this field henceforward.

Urban green areas, as one of the determinants of urban quality of life, are considered to be a part of the urban spatial system and one of the crucial public services. The aim of this study is to determine the characteristics of citizens’ urban green area use and green area satisfactions and analyzing the spatial patterns of these characteristics.
The study is based on a research held in residential areas of Istanbul which differ in terms of development process and socio-economic characteristics. The study spatially demonstrates the spatial patterns of green area use and green area satisfaction in Istanbul; and indicates the diversifications according to Istanbul’s residential areas’ socio-economic and spatial attributes. Through these findings, the study provides an analytical assessment of urban green area use and satisfaction levels, moreover gives assistance for potential interventions of improving green areas’ quality and effective utilization in Istanbul, while also spatially addressing these intervention areas.

This paper deals with the evaluation of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) web portals in terms of exploring the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in shaping new ways of governance. It tries to understand in the local (municipal) level the effects of ICTs and specifically the web portals in framing the new governance type which is called “e-governance”. Based on the existing literature on e-governance -by capturing the key aspects in terms of local governance- this paper takes the case of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality websites by evaluating their character in three main aspects: informative (information share); service provider; and public involving (public participation).

The last three decades has witnessed a proliferation of discourses produced by central and local governments on “economic growth and urban development”, all of which are embodied in projects developed by public-private sector cooperation, and which serve as the major tool to reorder and reproduce cities through new ways of capital accumulation. With reference to the evolution and changing meanings of gentrification, this study aims to discuss the frameworks in which these projects are to be considered as new forms of gentrification rather than as “urban regeneration projects”. Offering residential or multi-functional uses for middle- or upper-middle classes, these projects often pop up in neighborhoods of low-income inhabitants, and mostly involve the demolition of existing social housing or squatter settlements, thus causing severe forms of displacement and dispossession among former inhabitants. In this sense, it is necessary to create an overview of the concept and forms of displacement generated by new-built gentrification and the methodological questions in studying it. As a means to grasping the global geography of gentrification in its multiple forms and consequences, a new perspective of comparative urbanism and a place-based approach is indispensable. This study emphasizes the need to re-conceptualize both gentrification and displacement with reference to their various manifestations in different urban geographies, and thus offers a theoretical outline to frame displacement as a systematic result of gentrification, which, in its new forms, operates as today’s major neoliberal urban strategy.