Author(s)

E. Aktuglu Aktan

Abstract

Economic and social changes are key factors of urbanization in developing countries. Urban mobility (transportation), which developed to satisfy certain needs, grew as an issue while urban areas expanded and populations increased parallel to urban expansion which was reflected to urbanization. A higher weight of road usage for urban (inner city) transportation has worrying results, especially in populated and widespread cities. Actions taken to support road development is exhausting nature and transforming it into an artificial environment. This situation, which is a consequence of uncontrolled development of urban macroform, along with underdeveloped city transportation technology, creates problems such as population-accessibility, sprawling of the city (without any step changes), insufficient mass-transport and time-location relation dependency on distance. The objective of this article is to explain how the urban form of Istanbul became unlivable, unperceivable and unsustainable, while the city converted from a pedestrian and waterfront city to an automobile and land-based city. Inner city transportation in Istanbul is mainly solved through roads, which causes worrying results regarding urban form. One result is the urban growth towards the natural resources residing at the north of the city. Transformation to a pedestrian city, which is integrated to a mass-transport system, is the remedy to stop this growth. This problem can be solved by strategic decisions taken within an integrated approach. In this article, the problem is investigated within urban form – urban (inner city) transportation relation and a solution is sought with a strategic approach. Keywords: urban transport, urban form, city planning, Istanbul.

Keywords

urban transport, urban form, city planning, Istanbul