Examining the phenomenon of climate change in local policy documents within the framework of the historic urban landscape concept: The case of Eskişehir

The UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (2011) defines cities as holistic entities integrating natural and human components, the built environment, and cultural practices, while highlighting key threats to urban areas, with climate change being the most critical. Although global policies and strategies addressing climate change have been proposed, they often fail to translate into solutions tailored to local contexts. Recognizing the uniqueness of each urban context, this thesis explores how solutions embracing the local context can complement general approaches, focusing on the case of Eskişehir. The study begins by defining the concept of "local context" through the lens of the historic urban landscape and examines its connection to climate change using publications by international and national organizations and relevant scientific literature. It then analyzes the strategic plans, activity and performance reports, and climate action plans of Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality and the central district municipalities of Tepebaşı and Odunpazarı between 2006 and 2029. The year 2006 was chosen as the starting point, marking the introduction of strategic planning in Eskişehir. Qualitative methods, including document analysis and summative content analysis, were applied to examine the data. The findings indicate that while earlier planning processes in Eskişehir focused on local context, recent approaches have shifted towards generalized strategies influenced by global policies, partly due to the rising frequency of climate events. Based on the literature review and study results, recommendations tailored to Eskişehir's local context were developed through the four tools of the historic urban landscape approach.