Villages, which are the most important components of rural settlements, are places that are blended with their unique lifestyles, land uses, socio-cultural structures, natural and cultural landscape, historical phenomenon and space setup, and economic resources associated with their unique nature. In our country, the current legislation for rural areas cannot meet today's needs, and its inadequacy and complexity in terms of content have taken an alarming dimension over a long time. Especially in terms of the sustainability of rural areas, it has brought up the change and revision of the laws and policies followed in rural areas. The deficiencies and problems experienced in the spatial planning, design, and management processes of village settlements in Turkey are related to social, cultural, and environmental, etc. forms the basis of many problems. In this study, the conceptual framework of our country's rural settlements, and the existing legislation (laws and regulations, etc.) for spatial planning and design were examined in detail. As a result, because the legislation for rural settlements and villages is not up-to-date, holistic, relevant, and detailed, it causes different interpretations and multifaceted problems in practice. For this reason, it is necessary to address the conceptual, civil, administrative, managerial, spatial planning, and design dimensions of rural areas, rural settlements, and villages as sustainable and holistic, and the legislation should be revised according to future needs and conditions.

This study examines the reflections of increase in housing production in Turkey in the 2000s and 2010s in medium-sized cities through development processes and behaviour patterns of small and medium-sized local contractors operating in Aydýn. Housing production is one of the most important dynamics of change in urban space. Today, housing production is preferred as an investment tool rather than its use value that will meet a basic need such as shelter and comes to the fore through its exchange value. In this study, housing production is handled in a context over exchange value rather than use value. In the literature, the post 1980 construction sector has been examined through mega projects, infrastructure investments, government policies, internationalisation and large construction manufacturers, mainly in metropolitan cities. However, especially with the housing loan law enacted in 2007, construction production has also increased in medium-sized cities. This rise in the construction sector has been evident in the housing and real estate sectors. Medium and small housing producers in the expanding housing market in medium-sized cities continue to be influential on local scales, where large construction capital, which tends to centralize in housing production, does not deign to enter while trying to survive in the face of fluctuations and crisis trends in the market. This study examines the uniqueness of the housing sector in this region and the profiles of the housing manufacturers through the tendencies of the local building contractors active in the four settlements of Aydýn province, namely Efeler, Kuþadasý, Söke and Nazilli.

Globalization and developments in transportation and communication technologies have significantly changed the size and scope of the tourism sector in the world. In a highly fragile and risky market, competing is based on complementarity relations between various firms and necessitates establishing local and especially global relations in the sector. Accordingly, the tourism sector features a network-type organizational structure and causes the formation of relationship types at different scales (local, national and global) and at different levels (vertical and horizontal relations). Competitive and solidaristic associations as well as complementary vertical relations among tourism institutions are formed by these networks. They help to adapt to changing conditions, diversify services, create future demand, and provide advantages such as reducing transaction costs and benefiting from external economies of scale in tourism clusters. This study, within the framework of different relations, deals with the role of firm size in the provision of local and global networks in accommodation businesses of different sizes in the case of Alanya tourism cluster. It aims to contribute to the literature on tourism clusters by examining the network relationships in accommodation companies based on firm size across different networks in the tourism sector. In this research, a subregion of the Antalya Tourism Cluster, Alanya, was selected as the case study, and a survey was conducted on 10% of the accommodation companies. Percentage distribution values were used for measurement, and a comparison was made using a relationship matrix. The study demonstrates that sectoral relationships in accommodation companies differ based on firm sizes and the spatial level of relationships. The findings also reveal that small-scale firms can establish strong relationships only in local networks, while large-scale firms can establish strong global relationships in all networks. Medium-sized firms, on the other hand, are capable of establishing strong relationships both locally and globally.

The region of Thrace, its proximity to Istanbul, the strong industrial infrastructure, and road transport in the region, due to the fact that our country is the gateway to Europe, are subject to strong mobility of loads. The load transport facilities in the area have an imbalanced relationship with one another. Unplanned and uncontrolled development of logistical components compromises logistical performance and jeopardizes the region's planned integrity. As a result of similar failures with living industrial towns, logistics villages have been created. The purpose of this paper is to choose the best location for the envisaged logistics community in Thrace. The location of the logistics village should be chosen using a system that is affordable, simple to grasp, quick, qualitative, adaptable, and universal. This model was developed by combining data from field research and book reviews at the same time. According to the literature review, the two most preferred methods for multi-criteria decision-making in logistics center siting are AHP and TOPSIS. Based on this data, our study provides a comparative interpretation of these methods. Literature In addition to the survey, a field study was conducted, site selection criteria, in-depth interviews with experts on sub-criteria, and options were developed. The criteria of accessibility, costs, land characteristics, and social benefit criteria were taken into account. Tekirdað, Çerkezköy, Marmara Ereðlisi, and Havsa were identified as options. The results of the study showed that the AHP and TOPSIS applications provided consistent and uniform results.

Village Institutes have been one of the exemplary educational institutions of Turkey, which entered the modernization process with the proclamation of the Republic. The village institutes project of the period came together with the vision of the capital Ankara, and a High Village Institute was established in Hasanoðlan Town in Ankara to train teachers for village institutes. Village institutes are unique institutions developed to provide the most effective and rapid development in rural areas. The institutes differ from other educational institutions in many ways; from their social impacts to their spatial organization, from the human-scaled structures on their campuses to the sophisticated education system, from the construction processes to the transformations they had over time. Hasanoðlan High Village Institute (HYKE) has a remarkable place with its campus and its spatial characteristics, in addition to being one of the locomotives of the Republican enlightenment in the capital. HYKE is still being used as an educational institution and has gone through several phases where its name and scope have changed until today. This study aims to investigate the changes that HYKE has experienced in terms of spatial dimensions at the campus scale. While carrying out the research, related written and visual documents, mainly the historical ones, oral information that shed light on the history of the campus, and fieldwork are used. As a result of the transformations that the institute went through in different phases, there are changes in the campus spaces such as destruction, shrinkage, remaining idle, and shifts in functions.

The article focuses on the political role of the urban planner, which is gaining importance in the planning literature. Its purpose is to disclose the practical meaning of the political role that comes as an alternative to the roles of technocrat and communicator/negotiator planner, to show the political roles that occur at concrete level; and to discuss the opportunities and obstacles they face based on the Turkish example. The article first looks at the theoretical foundations of the political role focusing on the question of 'what is political?', based on the discussions in the field of political philosophy. The place of the political role in the planning literature is examined, including the criticisms against the communicative planning. Then, the political roles that emerge in the processes of supporting and accompanying the neighbourhoods under the threat of urban transformation based on land rent generation, in the opposition processes carried out by the planners to defend public spaces, and in the legal processes carried out by the Chamber of City Planners against neoliberal urban projects are examined. Three different political roles are defined; the accompanying role, the defender/activist role of public spaces, and the legal struggling role. The article finally argues that the planner has political roles that differ according to the nature of planning processes, revealing their vitality for democratization of planning. Moreover, the article makes implications with regards to the time dimension of the political role, its relationship with other planner roles and finally on its continuity and strength.

Capacity building, as a frequently emphasized approach in the global discourse, takes precedence in all disciplines with regard to the possibilities it offers. The idea of applying this approach to the field of conservation can be considered one of the prominent topics in current heritage studies. Various endeavors, such as improving the knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors of individuals and communities, strengthening institutional/organizational structures, and dynamizing the relationship between heritage and its context, are becoming increasingly important from the relevant perspective. In this light, this article primarily aims to adapt capacity building to the field of conservation and examine its conceptual framework in detail. It scrutinizes the approach within the context of the “involvement of communities, NGOs, and other stakeholders in the management process”, as mentioned in the World Heritage Capacity Building Strategy. Within this scope, the research specifically focuses on the urban core of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bergama (Pergamon) and Its Multi-layered Cultural Landscape, where daily life and, accordingly, heritage-community relations continue to form and evolve. It can be argued that a unique methodological construct has been proposed for this research, based on the general capacity building framework presented by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Firstly, the key actors of the heritage area were examined. Moreover, the existing and targeted capacity, as well as the needs of the area, were evaluated. The identification of research-specific capacity indicators through keyword scanning, a survey conducted with the local dwellers, semi-structured interviews, the utilization of a capacity building scale developed for experts, and frequency analysis are among the dominant tools employed in the above-mentioned process. In this framework, the research ultimately aims at developing a holistic capacity building approach towards Bergama.

The conservation of biodiversity on which the processes of rapid urbanization and industrialisation creating pressure is concerned as an important issue that might be handled with international efforts. The conservation of biodiversity that consists of ecosystems, species diversity and genetic diversity, principally uses the “in-situ” and “ex-situ” conservation methods. This paper aims to evaluate the planning and manage-ment process of protected areas (natural sites, national parks, wetlands and protected areas) in Turkey through the Sultan Sazlýðý (Kayseri) case and to argue the opportunities for effective conservation of biodiversity and probability of sustainable targets for Turkish natural heritage. The RAPPAM (Rapid Assessment and Prioritization of Protected Area Management) and METT (Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool Method) methods are used in the study to determine the problems related to the aims and the targets in planning and management of protected areas, institutional structure, planning authority, legal framework, sustainable development strategies, participatory planning approaches and conservation practices. At the final evaluation, the main problems are observed as the disruption of natural water cycle in wetland ecosystem, the ecological pollution caused by the unplanned developments and touristic activities, the fragmented and partial institutional structure on the management and planning of the protected areas, the lack of the common sense among the different sectors to achieve the integrated conservation aims, insufficient economic subsidies, the deficiency in experience and technology transfer, inefficient personnel and technical opportunity for monitoring and controlling the process and activities.

In recent years, cities have become essential actors in food systems due to various reasons such as increasing population, urbanization, environmental destruction, exacerbating climate crisis, food insecurity, and public health concerns and the various policies they produce to meet the food needs of the population they host. The increasing role of cities, also called the “new food equation”, pushes local governments to prepare holistic policies regarding the food issue in many world cities. This set of policies, also defined as urban food strategies, is now defined as an effort to create food policies to improve cities' public health, ensure social justice, and support environmental sustainability. The development of a comprehensive approach to the creation of these strategies is important because of its ability to focus not only on production or consumption but also on the entire food chain and its ability to intervene and address the environmental, economic, and social dimensions of the food system. The Istanbul Food Strategy Document (IFSD), developed through a comprehensive approach that encompasses both the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the food system, is the first urban food strategy document prepared holistically by a local government in Turkey. This study aims to evaluate the Istanbul Food Strategy Document (IFSD). The study is designed in two stages. Firstly, the holistic structure of the IGSB is evaluated through the horizontal and vertical components of food systems defined in the literature, and deficiencies and recommendations are identified under these headings. Secondly, owing to the multidimensional, multilayered, multi-actor, and multi-sectoral structure of food policies and the inclusion of various types of stakeholders, the document creation process was evaluated. Based on the findings obtained from interviews with Istanbul Planning Agency, Agriculture, and Food Policy experts involved in the IFSD, the document creation process was evaluated and recommendations were made.

This research examines the impact of social and human capital on the labor market participation and mobility of the Syrian migrants in the case of Istanbul. Immigrants are participated in the labor market as a part of active or reserve labor force for reasons such as survival, desperation and urgency in the migrated country. In this process, they give a new topic added to the existing employment problems of the city where they live. In this study, employment mobility of Syrian immigrants in the labor market as a heterogeneous group is discussed by making use of the capital concepts defined by Bourdieu sociology and the theory of social network. The effectiveness of the use, reproduction and transition of social and human capital in labor market and mobility (occupational) has been questioned. In Istanbul, as a study case area, academic interest in examining the situation of the Syrian labor force in the labor market in terms of a specific sector and/or the perception of the domestic labor force has increased recent years. However, there is lack of academic studies which focus on the social and human capital of Syrian immigrants which is more unknown and more interesting area and examines the process in the labor market. The aim of the study is to contribute to this gap in the literature. 35 interviews were conducted within the scope of the research, which was handled with an exploratory, qualitative method based on in-depth interviews. The findings revealed that the role of social networks as a component of social capital is effective for labor participation. It has been observed that the use of existing social ties and the involvement in new social networks provide an advantage in accessing to job. Although there is a positive correlation between spatial location and job finding, it has been determined that access to first job is concentrated in regions where labor is cheap and insecure. A differentiation has been observed in vocational mobility appropriate to its qualifications according to human capital components such as language skills, experience and education.