Paper

Ankara-Sakarya Greenway Planning

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Abstract

Greenways have many distinct functions. The purposes of greenways may generally be described as the: protection of biological diversity, to establish connections between habitats, to supply the orientation of urban development and the development of recreational uses and tourism throughout rural and urban landscapes and also to preserve both historical and cultural sources and ecological assets.

Greenway is the creation of an outdoor green zone, which atteches settlements to each other either in rural and urban environments and people with nature, and which may be considered as a connection between different settlements. Greenways are green connections in the form of linear parks, open spaces, protected nature reserves located within cities, or rural settlements, in which people will enjoy to be, and where they may carry out certain activities. Some of these may be at local scale, and some atregional or national scale. Some appear in towns-villages, some in cities, and some in both. While some greenways are used for recreational and tourism-related purposes, others may be used for ecological, aesthetical purposes or for the purpose of environmental management.

The purpose of the Ankara-Sakarya Greenway proposal is to evaluate this national route consisting Ayaş, Beypazarı, Güdül, Çayırhan, Nallıhan, Göynük, Mudurnu, Taraklı and their close vicinity, which is extremely rich in terms of historical, natural and cultural assets, through an integrated planning approach.

The successful examples of greenway planning, which allows various usages through approaching the natural and cultural environment as a whole, may be seen in American and European cities, particularly since recent years. When examples supported by the European Greenway Association, such as Krakow – Vienna Greenway Planning, Poland – Slovakia – Ukraine Green Way Planning, Amber Greenway Planning, etc., are examined, it can be clearly observed that greenways not only allow conscious decisions to be given concerning the sustainable usage of historical, cultural and natural sources, but also are important tools for regional development, they also enable the diversification of tourism and recreational usages.

Furthermore, if public participation can be ensured during the inventory, planning, implementation and management stages of the effort, it would enable activities towards contributing to the improvement and orientation of the human resources capacity in the region.

By the greenway that was proposed from Ankara to Sakarya, preservation and development of environmental, historical, cultural, natural and social assets of the area, it is aimed for the development of recreational usages throughout the rural and urban landscape, diversification of tourism, development of traditional values through approaching them with scientific methods, upon determining the agricultural production potential, and protection of historical, cultural and natural sources.

Ankara - Sakarya Greenway Planning primarily involves the formation of a comprehensive inventory of the area’s natural, historical and cultural assets, through an integrated approach. Through the inventory study to be carried out concerning determined fields throughout the effort, the concept of greenway and the purpose and stages of the project was shared with the people to be affected from the application and public participation to the design of draft project was ensured.

Another important purpose of the project, is to handle the Ankara-Sakarya Greenway Project, which is aimed to be conducted as a further comprehensive and international project by the work team in question, as a pioneer effort on the scale of the City of Ankara. The purpose is, to protect biological diversity in the area, which covers an important portion of the Silk Road, to establish connections between habitats, to develop recreational uses and tourism activities throughout the rural and urban landscape and to protect historical, cultural and ecological activities.

Keywords: greenways, ankara, sakarya, planning

How to Cite:

Arslan, M., Barış, E., Erdoğan, E. & Dilaver, Z., (2013) “Ankara-Sakarya Greenway Planning”, Fábos Conference on Landscape and Greenway Planning 4(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.7275/fabos.742