Evaluation of universities in the context of urban location: The case of Konya

The relationship between universities, a developmental element of society, and the city is important for the development of the region in which they are located. Establishing a strong relationship between the university and the city requires a planning process that starts with the selection of the university's location within the country, region and city and consists of many important stages. Universities established without adequate studies are often limited to the role of merely promoting economic development. In order to fulfill their missions, universities will utilize the social, cultural, economic, and technical services of the cities in which they are located. For the development of the city, the knowledge produced by the university and its intellectual environment is needed. The most important steps to ensure this mutual interaction are the selection of the university's location relative to the city and the planning of its campus. This study aims to highlight the importance of the university-city relationship and to examine the characteristics of urban settlement exhibited by universities in the city of Konya today. In this context, the concepts of university and campus were first explained, and their historical processes were investigated. Emphasis has been placed on how universities should make urban settlement decisions, and the characteristics of universities located within the city and those outside the city have been examined. A review of the literature revealed that the university-city relationship is mostly examined from an economic perspective. This thesis aims to investigate the university-city relationship from socio-cultural, transportation, and spatial perspectives. In this direction, university campuses in the central districts of Konya City were evaluated comparatively in terms of socio-cultural, transportation and spatial aspects. There are five universities in Konya, three of which are state universities and two are foundation universities. Eight campuses belonging to these universities were examined according to the set of criteria determined within the scope of the thesis. The study concluded that, in general, the universities in Konya have not sufficiently integrated with the city, and the university-city relationship has not been adequately established. Particularly, public universities have been located on the outskirts of the city. The city ends and university buildings begin. Foundation universities are located closer to the city center. Although they are located within the city, they are isolated from urban life by borders. A multidimensional university-city relationship has not been achieved since these universities are not open to urban use. It is recommended that decisions should be made by the authorities and designers during the establishment phase of the university by considering the university-city relationship, that these decisions should be realized in the light of the parameters put forward in the study, and that the university site selection and campus design should be realized as a result of a planning by consulting expert opinions.