Evaluation of the Issues and Challenges in Turkey’s Urban Planning System

Abstract

This concluding chapter focuses particularly on the period, which starts with the 2002 general elections, covering almost the last 15 years of the country. In this period, Turkish cities have experienced significant spatial and social transformations. This raises a number of issues and challenges for urban and regional planning in Turkey. The current urban and regional planning agenda worldwide covers dozens of topics. For Turkey, three issues have become prominent: (i) actors (and institutions) other than planners (and planning) that have control capacity in the production and transformation of the built environment, and adverse effects of their actions on the integrity of urban plans and the control capacity of urban planning, (ii) the need to achieve resilient, safe, and sustainable urban environments, and (iii) consequences of population growth and the spatial expansion of cities as well as the problems stemming from the current efforts at urban transformation. Some cross-cutting issues and significant points among the chapters of the book are emphasised in this chapter. The Turkish case provides useful examples and fruitful discussions for international readers from developed and developing countries.