**1. Introduction**

242 Urban Development

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Some researchers have pointed out that the availability of accessible and attractive green areas is an integral part of the urban quality of life ( Herzele and Wiedmann, 2003). Others maintain that the provision of green areas improves the urban environment, contributes to public health, increases the quality of life and provides amenities to residents in the form of recreational benefits (Wu and Plantinga, 2003). For instance, green areas can sequester carbon dioxide emissions and produce oxygen (Jo, 2002); purify air and water, regulate micro climate, reduce noise (Bolund and Hunhammer, 1999); (Hanamaen et al., 2003); protect soil and water (Pauleit and Duhmer, 2000); absorb rainwater and pollutants (Connine et al., 2004) and mitigate urban heat island effect (Rudie and Dewers, 1984; Stanners and Bourdeau 1995; Simpson and McPherson 1996; Bonan, 2000).

Some have pointed out that the benefits of parks are not just environmental but also recreational, aesthetic and emotional (Kaplan and Kaplan, 1989; Savard et al., 2000); (Ong, 2003); (Gobster and Westphal, 2004; Jim, 2006a). Furthermore, public parks can have a statistically significant effect on the sale price of nearby houses (Benson et al., 1998; Tyrvainen, 1997). Most Istanbul residents generally view parks as recreational areas and the paucity of these areas have led to the severe overcrowding of available green areas on weekends and holidays (Aksoy, 2011).

Linking the quantified and spatially explicit urban green area pattern with an economic model, such as the hedonic price model combined with property characters can help clarify the relationship between green areas and economic values (Geoghegan, 2002; Morancho, 2003). In the future, it is expected that the social and spatial implications of new lifestyles, values, attitudes to nature and sustainability will even lead to higher demands for urban green area (Thompson, 2002). This situation has also been observed in Istanbul as residents have begun to demand more green areas and parks set aside for their use.

Although intrusion into forests is officially forbidden, developers enticed by high profit have often succeeded in obtaining needed permits and most of those who have moved to the periphery are in search of green and tranquil places of residence despite the high cost of living (Dokmeci and Berkoz, 2000).

An Evaluation of Distribution and Quantity of Parks in Istanbul 245

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

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

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

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

Years Core I Ring II Ring 1975 0.8 0.2 0.14 1980 0.95 0.22 0.22 1985 1.76 0.25 0.09 1990 2.84 0.87 0.30 1995 3.19 1.42 0.61 2004 3.39 1.76 0.88

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

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

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.

areas which is 10 m²/ person and should therefore be increased (Aksoy et al., 2007).

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

through Byzantium and Ottoman times (Maguire, 2000; Melling, 1819).

the characteristics of districts are explained.

of the districts are provided.

Information Systems works.

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

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 opportunity to improve environmental quality through urban green areas.

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 in local areas.

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

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

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 Business District (CBD)
