Human-Nature Relationship with a Focus on Recreation - Case of İstanbul

Abstract

Due to altering living standards and technological advances of the 21st century, many people prefer to live in cities. Istanbul has been one of the fastest and most complex developing cities from past to present. Ever-increasing needs of Istanbul have brought about increasing built-up spaces. These dense built-up spaces have damaged the connection between the urbanites and nature; therefore, their interaction. The human-nature relationship has become an essential necessity with increasing urban pressure today. In the context of the human-nature relationship, although different types of landscapes are considered, the most effective parameter appears to be active green areas and, thus, the recreation activities attached to them. This research aims to scrutinize the relationship between the recreational needs of the public and the transformation of natural areas from 1990 to 2018. In order to detect spatiotemporal alterations, this study mainly benefits from the 1990, 2006, and 2018 dated CORINE land cover data. According to the GIS map-based studies, development and transformation of land covers are identified. These studies forward the sub-types, dispersions, and the alteration trends of major land covers as in the cases of decaying "natural and semi-natural areas", increasing "urban fabrics", and partially increasing "green urban areas" and "sport-leisure facilities". Following to reveal the features of the blue-green network, strategies to upgrade the decaying and fragmented status are discussed through the concepts of “physical and perceptional human-nature contact”, “collective memory”, “connectivity”, “productive landscapes”, “multifunctionality”, and “transformable open spaces”.