The role of the planner in the shaping of urban form in Turkish cities

Abstract

This study focuses on the role of the planner in the process of shaping the urban form of Turkish cities. The aim is to discuss the role of the planner from a historical perspective. After an examination of the changing nature of the Turkish planning system and development plans, the study provides a tentative framework for explaining the changing role of the planner. In its evolution throughout almost a century, from the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923 until the present day, the role of the planner in shaping the urban space has been reduced to the distribution of development rights. Priority is given to the construction of more buildings through projects conceived on the basis of single plots to replace old buildings with new ones or through urban regeneration projects on a neighbourhood scale, which are realized through the demolition of informal housing areas. In both cases, we see the absence of a structural understanding of the nature of the world we live in, where urban development plans have become the tools for replacement processes, and cities have become places where buildings come together without being woven into each other.