**5. Conclusion**

There has been an increase in the number of brownfields especially at the metropolitan areas as a result of the rise in population in Turkey. Turkey has been faced with migration from rural to urban areas since 1950s. In this respect, brownfield sites provide an alternative land‐use supply, and thus a more sustainable way to preserve land resources. However, the most important issue of brownfield redevelopment, the contamination, has not been fully under‐ stood nor well recognized in the Turkish brownfield policies and strategies. In Turkey, there has been a tendency for planners and architects to handle the brownfields as a symbol of industrial heritage and as industrial archaeology areas, and therefore, the policies and implementations have been developed through the concept of preservation and urban regeneration rather than environmental clean‐up.

well‐organized projects which aims environmental protection and eliminated air, soil, and

Among all, ensuring the community involvement is one of the cornerstones of brownfield redevelopments [48–51]. The impacts of brownfields can extend beyond the boundaries of the property to affect the neighborhoods and environment. Safety problems, environmental, and public health threats are some of their negative impacts on the surrounding communities. On the other side, their redevelopment can provide some economic and spatial opportunities. The increased efficiency of community‐based organizations and community development corpo‐ rations has triggered the governments to search for the ways to stimulate their participation [52]. Most of the governments recognized the fact that without their participation, it is nearly impossible to achieve a successful project in a reasonable time. However, in Turkey, most of the urban regeneration projects were realized without community participation. Therefore,

All in all, the required attempts in order to achieve sustainable regeneration/redevelopment of brownfields at the national and local level in Turkey can be summarized as in the **Table 2**.

Setting essential legal regulations Designating brownfield sites (constituting an extended programmatic

Setting a conceptual definition Setting critical decisions about characteristics of the brownfield sites

development strategies

There has been an increase in the number of brownfields especially at the metropolitan areas as a result of the rise in population in Turkey. Turkey has been faced with migration from rural to urban areas since 1950s. In this respect, brownfield sites provide an alternative land‐use supply, and thus a more sustainable way to preserve land resources. However, the most important issue of brownfield redevelopment, the contamination, has not been fully under‐ stood nor well recognized in the Turkish brownfield policies and strategies. In Turkey, there has been a tendency for planners and architects to handle the brownfields as a symbol of

redevelopment

Determining the goals and objectives of sustainable brownfield

Determining the vision of cities through sustainability

Preparing master plans, detailed plans through sustainable

Determining the possible stakeholders and their roles

definition)

there are still some challenges in the society against the regeneration projects.

**National level Local level**

Allocating national funds Allocating local funds Establishing transparency Establishing transparency

**Table 2.** Required attempts for sustainable brownfield redevelopment in Turkey.

Developing national, regional and city data

Determining national and regional

Preparing national and regional

development strategies

development plans

**5. Conclusion**

bases of sites

water pollutions [47].

148 Sustainable Urbanization

It may be interesting to indicate that brownfields are formed not only as a result of rapid/ uncontrolled urbanization but also as a result of planning decisions in Turkey. Recent researches about the industrial movements in Turkish metropolitan cities [23, 24] have showed that most of the industrial firms changed their locations through master plan decisions prepared by local and central governments. Another significant factor in the formation of brownfields is the privatization of state‐owned industries as a result of liberalization policies after 1980s. Most of the industrial areas and plants which were founded at the beginning of the Republican period have been subject to put up for sale through market demands. Estab‐ lishing at the inner parts of the cities at the most valuable lands have not only increased the market demand but also the speculative sales due to the lack of transparency and lack of definite public policies for the redevelopment of these lands. Under these circumstances, brownfield redevelopments are often realized in a project‐oriented manner, and this approach fails to meet the requirements of sustainable brownfield redevelopments.

The obstacles in brownfield redevelopment in Turkey broadly relate with indefinite policies at the national and local level, lack of specific brownfield‐related regulations, lack of database and definition, insufficiency of practical knowledge and public participation, and lack of transparency in property transformations. There is no doubt that the environmental legislation in Turkey should require additional regulations concerned with contamination, remediation, liability, and public participation issues. The Western countries' experiences demonstrate that without a specific legal arrangement at the federal and state level, it is not possible to develop appropriate solutions for the sustainable redevelopment of brownfields [30, 45]. In Turkey, the responsibilities of central and local governments should be identified with the emphasis of the involvement of all the stakeholders.

Turkey, as a late industrialized country, can contribute the sustainable development strategies in brownfield redevelopments. Turkey has been at the point of development and environment dilemma for decades which constitute a big barrier in sustainability and sustainable urban regeneration issues. In the economically depressed areas, it is very difficult for the planners and politicians to support the policies considering environmental, recreational, historic preservation, and design principles and related solutions.

In Turkey, the planners and environmentalists have competed with political interest (often unsuccessfully) to protect the historical and environmental sources in the cities. On the other hand, the capitalism also reshaped the landscape with the emphasis of productivity more strongly, rather than sustainability and urban efficiency concerns.

Consequently, beginning with recognized gaps in brownfield‐related literature and practice, this study has taken the picture of the sustainable brownfield redevelopment issues in Turkey and tried to develop some recommendations for future attempts through developed countries' perspectives.
