The Possible Sources of Ethical Issues in Urban/Physical Planning in Turkey

Abstract

Ethical issues of urban planning in Turkey are understudied. This article briefly examines eight possible sources of unethical behavior, decision and policy in Turkish urban planning. This analysis of ethical problems and sources of physical urban planning focuses on the local government level. This study focuses on harmonizing Turkish and international literature on local politics, urban planning, urbanization, planning profession and planning ethics literature with the perceptions, attitudes and conditions of planning actors based on interviews and survey conducted in selected Turkish municipalities and SPAs in 2008–09 as part of a major EU-funded public sector ethics project in Turkey. The roles of interest groups, conditions of planners and decision-makers on urban planning and planning ethics are especially scrutinized. The role of economic factors such as land rent, insufficiency of housing stock and economic transformation of Turkey play a prime role and have triggered effects on other sources of issues in planning ethics in Turkey. Institutional, strategic and legal dimensions of planning ethics in Turkey are also questioned and found that new measures on these dimensions should be taken to combat unethical urban planning decision-making and implementation.