A Study On The Deficiencies Of The Turkish Urban Legislation System Regarding Urban Climate: The Case Of Open And Green Spaces Of Istanbul

Date

2025-12-30

Author

Serter, Gencay
Kuşcu Şimşek, Çağdaş

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Urban areas are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, with heatwaves posing one of the most significant threats, particularly in Mediterranean cities like Istanbul. Urban resilience strategies often emphasize open and green spaces (OGS) due to their capacity to mitigate urban heat and supporting thermal comfort. However, in the Turkish Spatial Plans Construction Regulation, the term open and green spaces remains legally ambiguous and functionally inconsistent, encompassing a wide range of land uses with differing ecological and thermal characteristics. This study investigates the climatic performance of various land uses legally grouped under the same OGS category; such as parks, recreation areas, groves, botanical gardens, fairgrounds, stadiums, and city squares within the city of Istanbul. Using Landsat 8 imagery and spatial analysis tools, surface temperature data and vegetation indices (NDVI) were analyzed for 12 selected locations. ANOVA and Tamhane’s post-hoc tests were applied to evaluate temperature differences among land use types, while regression analysis explored the relationship between NDVI and thermal behavior. The findings reveal that spaces with dense vegetation (e.g., parks and groves) exhibit a consistent cooling effect within a 300-meter buffer zone, whereas impervious surfaces like fairgrounds and paved squares demonstrate significantly higher surface temperatures. These results demonstrate that grouping ecologically and thermally distinct land uses under a single legal definition undermines climate-sensitive planning. This study contributes empirical evidence for integrating functional climate performance into zoning regulations to support urban heat resilience.

Subject Keywords

Urban heat island, open and green spaces, climate resilience, zoning legislation, Kentsel ısı adası, Açık ve yeşil alanlar, İklim direnci, İmar mevzuatı, Yüzey sıcaklığı

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/118717

Collections

Department of Architecture, Article