A research on ecological footprint assessment in Turkey

The rapid increase in industrialization and urbanization since the 19th century has increased the destruction caused by humans to nature, the rapid consumption of natural resources and increasing environmental pollution jeopardize the ability of nature to meet the needs of future generations. One of the most important measures that can be taken against this negative picture is the adoption of an ecological and sustainable lifestyle. In this thesis, the most important criterion of ecological sustainability is the replacement of consumed natural resources, including other populations and ecosystems, and the elimination of waste produced by the population, as well as a concept used to understand the answer to the question of whether the ecosphere is sufficient to fulfill its general life support function. A comprehensive literature review on Ecological Footprint has been made. Sustainability is handled in terms of architecture, and it has been revealed to what extent communities (eco-cities, ecovillages and ecological settlements) that have adopted an ecological lifestyle have come a long way through ecological footprint calculations, despite the negativities brought by urbanization. In this study, examples of ecocities and ecovillages from around the world were examined, and the ecological footprint of the Marmariç Ecological Settlement in İzmir Bayındır district, which is an ecological campus in Turkey, and the 3 neighborhoods (Buruncuk, Yakacık, Yusuflu Districts) where agricultural production is intense and located in the rural area, It will be calculated by surveying residents and inputting the results one by one into the Global Footprint Network's ecological footprint calculation engine. As a result of the 1/1000 Implementation Zoning Plan received from Bayındır Municipality and on-site measurements, the built area footprint of the mentioned ecological settlements and neighborhoods will also be measured. The results were evaluated by comparing them with eco-cities and ecovillages whose ecological footprints were measured from the world, and with Turkey's ecological footprint value included in the 2018 data of the Global Footprint Network.