Abstract:

The recent mega-scale urban interventions in and around Istanbul revealed new questions and concerns about the environmental sustainability of the city. This study argues that the metropolitan scale, frequently used by decision makers in describing ecological problems triggered by mega-projects in and around Istanbul, is insufficient. In this article, instead of the metropolitan scale that solely focuses on Istanbul and its close surrounding, the ecological changes triggered by the urban development of Istanbul, will be evaluated at the regional scale. The ecological transformation of the Marmara Region will be examined by evaluating the distribution of the land cover types in the region for the years of 1990, 2000 and 2006 via Geographical Information Systems. The article will begin with a theoretical framework that compares the terms “metropolitan area” and “region”, which will then be engaged by the mega-scale urban interventions in and around Istanbul. The land cover data obtained from the Ministry of Forestry and Water Management will firstly be evaluated in Multiple Correspondence Analysis and then will be remapped in Geographic Information Systems. The obtained maps will be used to decipher the changes in agricultural land and forest areas in the Marmara region between 1990 and 2006. The changes monitored in different land cover layers will enable a detailed assessment of the ecological transformation caused by the rapid urbanization dynamics triggered by mega-projects in and around Istanbul, and thus deeper manifestations of contemporary urbanization dynamics beyond the built environment in the Marmara Region will be deciphered.

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