**2. Materials and methods**

Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey with a population of 10 million (2000) ranks as the country's most important socio-economic and cultural center. Istanbul is also an important

Residential invasion of green areas in the periphery of the cities is not only a phenomenon in Istanbul as it has also occurred in other countries. In the US, suburban expansion is converting forests, agricultural land, and wetlands into built environments beyond the edges of urbanized areas at an alarming and increasing pace (Gillham, 2002; Robinson et al., 2005). In addition, Canada (Rothblatt, 1994) and the United Kingdom also suffer from the

Rapid urbanization, together with an increase in leisure time, has resulted in the public's greater awareness regarding the amount and quality of nearby green areas (Shultz and King, 2001; Geoghegan et al., 1997). In order to deal with the problems of urban expansion and to answer the recreational, hygienic and aesthetic needs of people, the preservation and development of green areas are central issues (Turner, 2005). Several studies have investigated access to park and recreational facilities in the fields of planning, geography and leisure studies (Gobster, 1995; Talen and Anselin, 1998). (Cho and Choi's paper 2005) was based on the investigation of equity of public parks distribution by using GIS method. (Li et al., 2005) propose a comprehensive concept for planning urban green areas based on ecological principles and its implication is illustrated in Beijing, China and (Jim and Chen 2003) in Nanjing city, China. The increasing number of studies on green areas in China illustrate that fast economic and social changes in recent years have brought massive expansion, redevelopment and restructuring of cities and these changes offer cities the

Comprehensive planning of park areas in cities is required to improve our ability to relate land use patterns to environmental characteristics. This is essential for understanding urban green area systems and cannot be done effectively without first quantifying spatial patterns

The review of the literature illustrates that most of the studies at hand have been carried out on developed countries. Despite this, more recently a number of studies on the evaluation of green areas in developing countries have gained momentum, such as the studies by (Oduwaye, 1998) for Nigeria, (Oguz 2000) for Ankara (Turkey), (Li et al., 2005) for Beijing (China), (Jim and Chen 2003) for Nanjing city (China), (Jim and Chen 2006) for Guangzhou

In the Istanbul case, the balanced spatial distribution of parks with respect to population has become a public concern that involves many factors. For example, in Istanbul there has been an overall decrease in green areas and this has had a negative effect as environmental pollution is on the increase and settlements built in rain catchment areas have led to

The present paper evaluates the distribution of parks in Istanbul by considering the different characteristics of the city's districts. A regression analysis has been used in order to analyze the spatial distribution of parks with respect to the characteristics of districts such as population, income, planned development ratio of districts and distance to the Central

Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey with a population of 10 million (2000) ranks as the country's most important socio-economic and cultural center. Istanbul is also an important

loss of forests, agricultural lands, and green areas to urban expansion.

opportunity to improve environmental quality through urban green areas.

(China) and Kong and Nakagoshi (2006) for Jinan (China).

disastrous floods in some areas of the city, such as Alibeyköy.

in local areas.

Business District (CBD)

**2. Materials and methods** 

tourism center due to its historical background as the capital of three empires and thanks to its natural amenities. The long historical background of Istanbul not only enriches its urban structure but also its renowned green areas by starting from Roman times and continuing through Byzantium and Ottoman times (Maguire, 2000; Melling, 1819).

Despite all of its positive attributes, Istanbul's tremendous population growth after 1950s, due to rural migration, has negatively affected its socio-economic and cultural life as well as its physical structure and green areas. In 1975, the unit park area per person was 0.3 m²/person, slowly increasing to 1.1 m²/person in 2004 due to modern housing development to some extent in recent years. This figure is much lower than legislative requirements for unit park area ratio of 2 m²/person within the legislative requirements for the general green areas which is 10 m²/ person and should therefore be increased (Aksoy et al., 2007).

While in some districts green areas have been used to locate new public facilities such as schools or mosques under the pressure of population increase, some other districts have been demanding the preservation of the existing green area, in addition to demanding new park areas. Further investigation of the relationships between the unit park area ratio and the characteristics of districts are explained.

Despite these important roles of green areas for the quality of urban life in Istanbul, aggressive entrepreneurs have built modern housing complexes in forest areas in the periphery of city and other green areas have been invaded by squatters, all resulting in a park/ person ratio that is even lower in the second ring than it is in the core and the first ring (Table 1).


Table 1. Unit Park Area Ratio (m²/person) values according to Concentric Rings

First the study area is analyzed according to the concentric rings with respect to population and green area distribution and then regression analyses with respect to the characteristics of the districts are provided.

For the regression analysis green areas per person is taken a dependent variable and income, population, planning ratio, distance to the CBD, education are taken as independent variables. The number of, and information about, the green areas have been obtained from reports and in situ measurements prepared and taken by the Greater Municipality of Istanbul and the Office of Parks and Gardens. Arcview 3.2 Software (Herzele and Wiedemann, 2003) has provided successful results in Mapping and Geographical Information Systems works.

Data for the analyses were obtained by satellite image analysis checked with extensive field research and implemented on the GIS Maps by comparisons with the master plan.

An Evaluation of Distribution and Quantity of Parks in Istanbul 247

At the same time, there was a determined effort to preserve public or private green areas along the shore lines of Bosphorus and the historically world wide famous image of Bosphorus was conserved (Lamartine, 1897). Moreover, during the restructuring process of the 1980s, in order to increase green areas in the existing urban structure, warehouses and manufacturing plants along the Golden Horn shores were relocated and new park areas were created. Also, land was reclaimed from the sea along the Marmara Sea coast and new

The spatial distribution of unit park areas according to the districts between 1995-2004 has been investigated and the results are illustrated in Figure 1. Among the districts, Eminonu has the highest ratio, 10.6 m²/person. This can be explained by the opening of some of the large gardens of the Topkap Palace to public use and the utilization of the Byzantine Hippodrome as a park area, a utilization that actually began in the 1880s as a result of the

park areas were created, thus increasing amenities on the shore lines.

Fig. 1. Spatial Distribution of Unit Park Areas Between (1995-2004) in Istanbul

included within the boundaries of the expanding Metropolitan area (Table 2).

The second highest ratio (5,1 m²/person) belongs to Bakrköy, a district located in the periphery. The fact that it enjoys larger park areas than most of the other districts can be explained by its historical background as a recreation/excursion area of Istanbul during the

While the majority of squatter districts such as Esenler and Sultanbeyli (0,2 m2/person) and Güngören and Gaziosmanpaşa (0,3 m2/person), have lower park person ratios due to their limited budget to develop park areas there are also exceptions to this, such as Avclar (2, 3 m2/person) and Maltepe (3,1 m2/person). On the other hand, some of the high income districts have lower park person ratios such as Kadköy (1,4 m2/person) and Saryer (1,1 m2/person). At the same time some other districts, such as Silivri and Çatalca, are included in the lowest park per person ratio group due to the fact that they have only recently been

Westernization movement (Celik, 1993).

Ottoman Empire period.

A spatial analysis can serve as a starting point for an evaluation of the distribution of green areas with respect to population needs. As (Jim, 2004) has suggested, variations in land use and urban development patterns have generated green areas of different geometry, distribution and composition. To this regard, the quantification of green area patterns is a prerequisite to understanding green area spatial distribution and green area changes overtime. The hypothesis in this study is that education and income have a positive impact on green areas of the districts. Most of the squatter areas have very low unit park ratios due to the fact that their development was random and without planning.

In order to understand the reasons for different patterns of park distribution in different districts, we must first investigate the interaction between socio-economic and planning forces in different districts as they are already taken into consideration by other studies (Alberti, 1999; Kline, 2006). The spatial distribution of green areas has been investigated in two stages. First, the spatial distribution of unit park area has been investigated over time according to the districts and concentric zones of the city.
