Sustainable urban transformation as a society based approach: Case of Ankara Dikmen valley

Urban transformation refers to the positive interventions to the urban areas in order to accommodate a city for current and potential favourable conditions, and ensure sustainability. Although urban transformation practices directly affect people living in urban areas, it creates a positive image for local administrations. Urban transformation includes comprehensive practices aimed at changing socioeconomic and cultural structure of an urban area and urban people, and overcoming problems occurring in urban areas; and requires multi-actor and holistic efforts to eliminate problems in all aspects. In terms of the principles of sustainability, the urban transformation practices entail the involvement of public-private-civil actors in the process. The involvement of the local people -as a party to be directly affected by transformation process- in this process as a key actor is of vital importance in terms of sustainability. In this context, in the implementation phase of the study, a survey was conducted with 400 participants on Dikmen Valley Urban Transformation area. In the project implementation area, whether or not the vital principles of sustainability as involvement, transparency, governance, information and communication are respected in the transformation process is examined. The study revealed that these principles of sustainability were ignored in the implementation.