Smart cities and regional development: Rethinking the development strategies of TR32 region

The regional development process is shaped by new developments in Turkey and in the world. The success of Turkey's regional development experience has remained within a limited framework. Although there have been very important developments on this issue in the European Union process, there are important problems both in terms of strategic and implementation in reducing regional development differences. With the increase in the world population, the concept of development has increased its importance especially for developing countries. Although the beginning of migration from rural areas to cities within the scope of population growth caused individual benefits in the short term in urban life, it caused various problems in areas such as the use of scarce resources and education, health, environment, pollution and traffic. In order to minimize the problems arising from the increase in urban life, alternatives that make life easier in terms of urban planning have begun to be put forward by the state and local governments. The smart cities approach, which needs intensive technology, has taken the lead among these alternatives. The emergence of conditions that make life difficult and the gradual increase in energy consumption per capita necessitated the implementation of efficient systems. Smart cities make it their mission to leave a livable world to the next generations as their main goal. Smart cities, which aim not to consume or recycle the resources of the regions, aim to leave livable cities to future generations by getting rid of the factors that make life difficult and to lead people's lives in a prosperous way. The aim of this study is to reevaluate the development strategies for the TR32 region by evaluating the relationship between smart cities and regional development. In this study, in which the importance of smart cities in terms of sustainable development is emphasized, academic literature has been scanned in the first place. Then, regional development agencies were examined and comparative strategies on smart cities were discussed. The results obtained are important in terms of ensuring sustainability by recreating smart city strategies. In addition, it is thought that the study will shed light on the scientific literature and be a source for future studies. KEYWORDS: Smart Cities, Regional Development, TR 32 Region, Regional Development Agencies