Urban landscape in approaches developed on sustainable urban environments

Today, the most prominent subject in city planning is the rearrangement of settlements to render them healthy, efficient and energy-effective. Issues like climate change, global warming, drought, pollution and rapid consumption of natural resources necessitate the creation of resolutions for a healthy environment. This topic continues to be explored on international level as well. In this respect, sustainability, efficient energy consumption and quality of life are the subject matters of various trends on micro and macro levels. Throughout the study, the importance and necessity of sustainable urban design together with its prerequisites and resolutions pertaining to urban landscape are explored by taking urban history and the socio-cultural realities of natural landscape components into consideration. In addition, new approaches in urban design aiming to relieve population and urbanization pressure and maintain habitability of urban landscapes are analyzed in this thesis. This work provides holistic suggestions to the positive outcomes of these initiatives and their integration to the urban landscape strategies. In this respect, after the definition of urban landscape, issues pertaining to climate change, population and environment which led to the conception of sustainable urban approaches that are required by sustainable urban landscapes are assessed. These approaches are analyzed on urban scale, while the relations between urban sustainability and landscape examined. Moreover, issues, deficiencies and relations pertaining to said approaches are identified and certain suggestions to resolve these issues on the city level are provided. What is learned is investigated through the development process of the city of Ankara with certain indicators proposed in the context of sustainability, and the current situation of Ankara's green system is critically analyzed by considering its development with plans. Conclusions are drawn with the interpretation of findings regarding the maintenance of sustainability.