**2. Definition of urban renewal**

among the issues discussed. In 1972, 'United Nations Human Environment and Development Declaration', the first global assessment on the environment was adopted in Stockholm. Later in 1987, the sustainable development concept was defined for the first time in the Brundtland Report prepared by the World Commission on Environment and Development and has been widely used since then. In addition, 'sustainability principles' that were accepted at the Rio conference held in 1992 and the Habitat-2 City Summit in 1996 in order to create liveable environments have made sustainable urbanisation a prominent issue to be solved also in our Turkey as in other countries. Due to globalisation, change is inevitable, and today a 'planned

Majority of the world's population now live in cities, and the number of people living in the countryside is steadily decreasing every day. Because of the population growth and unplanned settlements in urban centres, the available resources are running out and natural habitats are undergoing changes. In other words, failure to meet the growing need for housing in urban areas leads to unplanned settlements in a way that threatens both the identity and liveability of the city. In addition, this type of construction has brought with it the land zoning and infrastructure problems. This process has also accelerated the destruction of green areas, agricultural areas and coastal areas. And the places, where unhealthy, dilapidated and illegal buildings are intense, create visual pollution as well as become a potential threat to the health

Especially, with the rapid restructuring and uncontrolled population growth that emerged after World War 2, natural systems have been ignored and an uncontrolled consumptionoriented development process has emerged. Adoption of a consumption-oriented lifestyle rather than production raises concerns for the future of cities and the life of their inhabitants. The capitalist, political, technological and industrial developments at the end of 1960s have significantly disturbed the ecological balance. And according to Özmehmet, this is the main reason for the inability to establish the correct link between development and the environment

Urban spaces should not be considered only as a space consisting of buildings, but also as a social and cultural centre where social events take place. Therefore, due to the significant impacts of urban areas on the society and human behaviours, their design should also include the social and cultural aspects in addition to the physical dimension. As there is not a particular perception of space, it is considered as a concept of place that is constantly changing and

When looked at the urban transformation projects in the world, cities seem to have different regeneration processes from each other according to their own internal dynamics due to the impact of globalisation. Intervention strategies of the developed and developing countries include different contents from each other, and the cities that have completed their regenera‐ tion eventually force the other cities into this process. So, local governments attaching importance to the implementation of urban transformation want to create quality urban environments, renew the city's image and raise their status and position. For example, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and Australia are among the countries that apply the ecosystem successfully in the urban transformation projects, the protection of natural resources and the

change for sustainability' is still required.

156 Sustainable Urbanization

of the people living in them and the fabric of cities.

renewed together with those living in it [2].

[1].

According to Zheng et al. urban generation, urban renewal, urban redevelopment and urban rehabilitation share same meanings in the town-planning field, but they are considerably different in term of scale. Urban renewal and urban regeneration express nearly the same meaning and both involve work of a relatively large scale. Urban renewal is defined as a process of slum clearance and physical redevelopment taking account of other elements such as heritage preservation; while urban regeneration is a comprehensive integration of vision and action aimed at resolving the multi-faceted problems of deprived urban areas in order to improve their economic, physical, social as well as environmental conditions [4] There are also many other striking definitions, explanations and application forms of this concept.

In the dictionary of the Turkish Language Institution, the term 'renewal' is defined as trans‐ formation, reform, to enter into another form and to take another case. When called 'urban renewal' in Turkey in the 1970s and 1980s, the first thing that came to mind was the improve‐ ment of slum areas [5]. Actually, urban renewal is a general concept including the applications carried out for the renewal of the existing urban structure [6].

Generally, urban renewal has been regarded as a sound approach to promoting land values, improving environmental quality, rectifying the urban decay problem and meeting various socioeconomic objectives on the one hand, and enhancing the existing social networks, improving the inclusion of vulnerable groups and changing adverse impacts on the living environment on the other [4]. Urban renewal is also considered as a comprehensive work aiming at improving the physical, social, economic and ecological aspects of urban areas through various actions including redevelopment, rehabilitation and heritage preservation [7].

According to Ho et al. [8], urban renewal projects can profoundly improve urban competi‐ tiveness providing that they are designed and implemented properly. On the other hand, urban renewal is associated with other concepts such as sustainability and defined in a broader sense. For example, according to Czischke et al. [9], sustainable urban renewal is understood as renewal actions, policies and processes within a city, which addresses interrelated technical, spatial and socio-economic problems in order to reduce environmental impact, mitigate environmental risk, and improve environmental quality of urban systems, lifestyles and assets.
