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An inquiry of adaptation of greenway planning strategy to the Istanbul Metropolitan Area, Turkey: Towards an understanding of differences in environmental discourses in industrialized and developing countries
Abstract
The environment has become an important issue in planning agendas as a consequence of the industrial era. Planners have begun to use scientific findings and strategies in solving problems. Among these strategies, the greenway planning strategy is promoted by landscape-ecological planning proponents and employed by planners because of its multifunctional features. Along with the positive science-based strategies, social sciences began to discuss the meaning of environment in the light of post-modern perspectives after the late 1980s. The environment is recognized as a discourse based on intertwined social, economic and political understandings. There are different discourses on the meaning of environment among different countries; moreover, there is a significant distinction between the environmental discourses of industrial countries and developing countries. This research investigates the modes of adaptability of the green-way planning strategy in the Istanbul Metropolitan Area (IMA), Turkey, by exploring the differences in environmental discourses between industrial and developing countries. It is argued that the environmental discourses are interconnected in the process of making and implementing physical plans that have ecological concerns. Moreover, industrial and developing countries exhibit relatively sharper differences in environmental discourses than within the industrial countries or within the developing countries. The investigation has been undertaken in two phases. In the fast phase two industrial country metropolitan area plans (Toronto and Portland, OR) and two developing country metropolitan area plans (Jakarta and Mexico City) are examined. Based upon this examination, a draft strategy has been drawn. In the following phase, the possibility of implementing the strategy in the IMA is investigated through interviews. The research concludes that environmental discourses differ in developing countries as compared to industrial countries in two ways. First, developing countries do not have environmental discourses of their own in the same way as do the industrial countries; they utilize mostly the discourses imported from industrial countries. Second, the content of environmental discourses can be subject to weakening or under-utilization, as in the case of sustainability. The research also found that the greenway planning strategy can be adapted to a developing country's planning system within the limitations of the planning tradition and environmental priorities of that country.
Subject Area
Urban planning|Area planning & development
Recommended Citation
Erbil, Asli, "An inquiry of adaptation of greenway planning strategy to the Istanbul Metropolitan Area, Turkey: Towards an understanding of differences in environmental discourses in industrialized and developing countries" (2005). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI3193898.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI3193898