Local community participation in "urban transformation projects"-Pangaltı example

Urban cities, like human beings, were affected by the political, social and economic changes that have occurred in recent years. The 20th century cities failed to answer the demands of the city itself and its citizens. Due to the high increase in the population, the urban equipments became insufficient and these insufficiencies of the urban equipments lead to the migration of the city center population to the outskirts of the city. The emptied spaces then changed ownership, they became slum areas and with the proliferation of these areas, the images of the cities were changed.?Urban Transformation Projects? have been developed to restore the urban city?s image and to solve the physical, social and economic issues involved. This study thus aims to clarify the so called urbanization concept and to analyze, with the Kurtuluş ? Pangaltı survey, how local community participation can be attained in the projects to be realized in our country.In the first section the subject has been introduced by explaining the objective, the scope and the methods used in the survey. The second section gives overall information about the urban regeneration concept. The third section concentrates on the urban regeneration projects realized in Europe and in our country. These projects are analyzed, titled with respect to participating actors and the application projects. Finally, by comparing the projects realized in Europe and in our country, the efforts were directed towards developing valuable data that can guide future projects. In the fourth section, the importance and the historical development of the Kurtuluş ? Pangaltı region, where a possible urban regeneration project is considered to be developed, has been the focus point. Last section verifies that Pangaltı is a potential urban regeneration area due to its central position, transportation facilities and its possibility for interaction from other projects in the neighbourhood. The regional survey results are also presented in the last section.To conclude; an urban regeneration project has to be developed in this region, given that it is community ? based and is also in harmony with the region?s historical building tissue. Local community participation and the community problems have been emphasized as the crucial factors to be treated with importance in all the future regeneration projects.Key words: Urban regeneration, urban renewal, partnerships, local community participation, urban I-II