The User Perception at the Urban Scale, Local Characteristics and Recommendations: The Example of Morphou in Northern Cyprus

Abstract

The recent changes and developments in the physical, economic, and population structure in Northern Cyprus have led to the emergence of ideas about the scale of cities and protection of urban life. The pursuit of improving the quality of life in settlements while preserving the local features channel the solution proposals towards the practice of cittaslow. This study aims to examine the district of Morphou and develop recommendations based on the aforementioned approaches. Hence, the current physical status of the city was analysed, and several arguments were developed regarding the intervention zones towards the principles of cittaslow in accordance with the public perception. In our study, physical analyses and qualitative and quantitative methods, including surveys, were used within the framework of a literature review and field study. In consideration with analyses and surveys, the existing status and future perspective of Morphou were identified, and some recommendations were presented for the city regarding the concept of cittaslow. As a result of the research and studies carried out, the location, physical structure, population, transportation facilities, and agriculturally suitable topography of Güzelyurt city reveal that it is an important factor for this place to be a slow city. In addition, all the analyses we conducted regarding the city and the results of the participants’ evaluations show that the city complies with the cittaslow criteria.