URBAN DEVELOPMENT DYNAMICS IN ISTANBUL METROPOLITAN AREA AFTER 1980s AND LOCAL BOUNDARY CHANGES IN THE ADMINISTRATIVE GEOGRAPHY

Abstract

Since the 1980s, the spatial transformation in the Istanbul Metropolitan Area has been changing and tried to be controlled by upper scale spatial planning studies approved in the years of 1980, 1995, 2006 and 2009. While spatial planning studies continue, on the other hand, there are also significant changes in the administrative structure in the metropolitan area. Between 1984 and 2004 the Metropolitan Municipality Law numbered 3030, the Metropolitan Municipality Law No. 5216 between 2004 and 2008, the Law on the Establishment of the District within the Boundaries of the Metropolitan Municipality and Amendments to the Laws No. 5747 between 2008 and 2012 and the Law on the Establishment of Fourteen Grand Cities and Twenty Seven Districts and Making Amendments to Some Laws and Decrees on the Law No. 6360 after 2012 have caused significant changes in the metropolitan cities all over the country. As an indicator of urban development in the Istanbul Metropolitan Area, the administrative boundaries are constantly changing, so the dynamics in the urban region are very influential with the direction of national and international capital. In this framework, administrative border changes are viewed as an opportunity to allow for the legalization of spatial transformation, rather than as a guide for urban development. As a result, there is no linear relationship between the change targets of making a financial center in the region where Istanbul is located and the city's holistic planning studies, the administrative metropolitan border changes in order to support the fragmentation in the legislation and planning process, it is emphasized that administrative boundaries based on strategic planning areas should be developed rather than a planning approach depending on administrative boundaries, which should be planned as a part of the urban system in which they are located.