Investigation of the land transformation process in Ankara valleys within the scope of ecological planning

Urban growth increases the pressures on the ecosystems located within the city limits and causes the fragmentation, deterioration, and extinction of these urban ecosystems. In order for cities to be healthy, it is aimed to ensure sustainability with an ecological planning approach. In addition, ecosystem services assist the of ecosystems and create an effective way for cities to plan green infrastructure. In addition to which constitute more thanone ecosystem in urban ecosystems, the valleys, which continue to exist in the city as an important part of the natural ecosystem, have a healing effect on the ecosystems in the urban environment. While the valleys, which are one of the most important elements of biological diversity, cultural value, landscape value, air quality and green spaces in Ankara, provide important inputs to the ecological diversity of the city, they have been damaged with rapid urbanization and the rents created. One of the main objectives is to determine the importance of protecting the city valleys of Ankara with their ecological characteristics in terms of ecological richness and sustainable development of the city. The main objectives of the thesis are to determine the importance of the conservation of the ecological characteristics of the Ankara valleys and the conservation of ecological diversity for sustainable land use and their contribution to ecosystem services. The aim of this thesis is to understand how valley planning; Determines how Ankara is cultivated and the valley ecosystems estimates in this process until the planning of the valley plans from 1980. However, it is not enough to understand how the valley ecosystem changed in Ankara's city planning. For this reason, within the scope of the thesis, the land use change of the Ankara inner-city valleys between 1984-2018 was examined and how this process was affected by the land use and land value, as well as the physical and socioeconomic changes in the valley systems were determined. Which policy, planning, and design approaches should be adopted for the improvement of the valley ecosystem. In line with the data obtained, green infrastructure planning and design guidelines have been developed that will contribute to the improvement of the ecosystem services of the valleys in Ankara's main urban core. The problems of non-integration of natural and designed ecosystems identified within the scope of the study are thought to influence the urban planning policies in Turkey with the integration strategies developed in the example of Ankara. Keywords: Ecosystem Services, Green Infrastructure, Urbanization, Urban Planning, Landscape Planning, Ankara