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A Study On The Deficiencies Of The Turkish Urban Legislation System Regarding Urban Climate: The Case Of Open And Green Spaces Of Istanbul

Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Urban areas play a dual role in the climate crisis, both as victims and contributors.Reports from the United Nations and the World Bank emphasize cities as key arenas for both climate action and exposure (UN-Habitat, 2011; World Bank, 2010).Notably, the Mediterranean Basin (including Turkey) has been identified as one of the regions most vulnerable to the effects of climate change (1) (Wilby, 2007; WWF, 2021).Recent data from Turkey indicate a continuous rise in summer temperatures and a sharp increase in meteorological disasters (TSMS, 2020), underscoring the urgency of urban climate adaptation (2).Despite this, the relationship between climate and urban space has not been adequately addressed in Turkey's planning practice or academic discourse.International consensus is growing around the importance of nature-based solutions such as green and blue infrastructure as essential tools for climate adaptation, particularly in urban areas (McPhearson et al., 2018;Andersson et al., 2019).Green infrastructure, especially urban open and green spaces (OGS), plays a crucial role in mitigating heat stress and enhancing resilience to a range of climate-related hazards.However, Turkish planning regulations continue to treat these functionally distinct spaces under a single classification.This approach assumes uniform environmental performance across all types of open and green spaces, disregarding critical differences in vegetation density, surface materials, and cooling potential.This creates a gap between ecological function and legal designation, which may limit the effectiveness of planning strategies aimed at improving urban climate resilience.This legislative and functional gap is addressed in this study through an analysis of the thermal performance of various urban OGS types that are legally defined under the same category in Turkey's Spatial Plans Construction Regulation.Using spatial and statistical analyses based on satellite-derived surface temperature and vegetation data (NDVI), this research evaluates the effectiveness of these areas in mitigating urban heat.The study focuses on Istanbul, one of Turkey's most urbanized and climatically vulnerable cities.The aim is to empirically assess the functional diversity among OGS categories and to advocate for evidence-based zoning reforms that reflect their differing climatic impacts. Literature ReviewDue to climate change, the increasing frequency and intensity of heatwaves pose a serious threat to human health (Matte et al., 2024;Damte et al., 2023), often resulting in fatal consequences particularly in urban areas (Li et al., 2024;Darmanto et al., 2019;Zhang et al., 2018;Qaid et al., 2016).For example, it is estimated that 70,000 people died during the European heatwaves of 2003, and 55,000 people perished in Russia in the summer of 2010 (Grigorieva and Revich, 2021).In the summers of 2022 and 2023, reported deaths in Europe reached 62,000 and 47,000, respectively (Yang and Chen, 2023).According to the WHO (2024), the number of people exposed to extreme heat is growing exponentially in all world regions due to climate change, resulting in a significant rise in heat-related mortality.For those over 65 years of age, heat-related deaths increased by approximately 85% between 2000-2004 and 2017-2021.Studies from 2000-2019 show that about 489,000 heat-related deaths occur annually, with 45% happening in Asia and 36% in Europe (Zhaoa et al., 2021).Unfortunately, these new findings show that in the two decades since 2003, Europe has fallen short in preparing for heat waves, which are expected to increase in the future, and it will be even more inadequate in the future to protect GENCAY SERTER; B.CP, M.Sc., Ph.D.
DOI: 10.4305/metu.jfa.2025.2.5
Language: English
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7125515243
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