Approaches To Climate Change In Spatial Planning And Design: International And Turkish Experiences

Abstract

Climate change falls into theoretical and practical concerns of many disciplines ranging from natural to social sciences, engineering, urban planning, architecture and administrative sciences. Spatial planning can be an effective tool for climate mitigation and adaptation with the use of urban climate mapping studies. Obviously, with regard to its spatial scale, the scope, content and form of the plan would vary in handling the phenomenon. For instance, while a strategic spatial plan would define a larger framework for climate sensitive action at regional and urban scales, an urban design scheme would describe building layout and codes for sun exposure, ventilation, shape and distribution of greenery, even the type of vegetation. It is important to take note that whatever the spatial scale is, planning for climate change should put an emphasis on energy efficiency, green infrastructure and sensible use of resources. A noteworthy approach in this regard is the use of urban climate maps that consist of significant guidelines for spatial planning. With the aim of understanding how local climatic conditions are paid attention in plan-making, the study first of all investigates this approach in different examples across the world. The second part, meanwhile, portrays the Turkish case: It elaborates the plan types in the Turkish planning system, and evaluates the climate-related perspective and content of these plan types. The study concludes with an evaluation of climate sensitive spatial planning, and reflects on how the plan types in Turkey can be improved in this respect.