From The Past to The Present: Footprint of Urban and Forest Ecology in Istanbul

Abstract

Istanbul is an important city whose population has been increasing continuously from the past to the present. This increase has led to the emergence of new residential areas, and therefore, to the constant expansion of the boundaries of the settlement. Today's core of the city of Istanbul is the historical region called the city wall. Until the 1950s, the settlement was mainly concentrated in this area and its immediate vicinity. There were more industrial facilities outside this region. In the time leading up to the construction of the first bridge into the Bosphorus, the population was generally gathered between the coastal and the D100 highway. After the construction of the first bridge in 1973, the boundaries of the settlement began to shift to the north of the D100 highway. When the second bridge to the Bosphorus (Fatih Sultan Mehmet) was built in 1988, the boundaries of the settlement expanded further north. Since this year, the bridge has been built together with the II. The area between the Ring Road (TEM) and the D-100 highway has been the scene of a busy settlement. During these years (1970-1990), which constituted the highest period of migration from the countryside to the city, the population of Istanbul increased more than twice. In the time leading up to the construction of the third Bosphorus bridge (Yavuz Sultan Selim), the settlement experienced a rapid expansion to the north of the TEM road. Istanbul, which has experienced the same periodic process twice in the past, is experiencing it again with the construction of the third bridge. This time, the city's borders have entered a continuous expansion circuit towards the Black Sea. During these processes, the city's green areas have rapidly declined and the urban areas have continuously increased. In order to detect this change in periods, periodic satellite images were classified through GIS and Remote Sensing programs and the evolution of green areas were revealed. The findings revealed that the green areas have been decreasing continuously since 1975 and this is closely related to the bridges and connection roads. It has been revealed that the process that the city has experienced in the past will live again with the newly built bridge, and this time the process will be faster. In this new period, the Black Sea will form the new border of the city. This shows us that the city is pushing the boundaries of expansion and that the new green spaces will lose their function.