Evaluating the urban agricultural potential in public spaces: The case of Konya province

Since the existence of humans, agriculture has been a natural part of life. Agriculture, which is basically done by people to meet their own nutritional needs, has undergone many evolutions with the development of technology today. Throughout history, even in ancient civilizations and cities, agriculture was not separated from the city. However, with industrialization, the city and agriculture fell apart, and cities began to be largely ignored due to rant. The gradual increase in the urban population has led to the loss of people's ties with nature and the decrease in agricultural lands in the cities, resulting in problems such as poverty and food supply. The unexpected Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 has forced us to rethink how we produce, process and distribute food. It has been realized that municipalities providing urban services should offer solutions compatible with nature during the epidemic period. In addition, it has been understood that local governments should make spatial arrangements for situations such as natural disasters and pandemics, and that they should work for cities that are more environmentally friendly and green, provide food safety, and can feed themselves. For this reason, the idea that agriculture can be done in the city has gained importance again. In the world, orientation to the concept of urban agriculture has begun and strategies and policies related to urban agriculture have been tried to be created in various countries. Because urban agriculture is a tool and a form of land use that provides economic development, ensuring food security in cities, reducing poverty, creating employment for the low-income group in the city. At the same time, it ensures more efficient use of waste management and resources, protection of biodiversity and sustainability, and unity and integrity with nature in cities. Within the scope of this thesis, the suitability of the urban and public areas of Konya/Selçuklu for urban agriculture will be investigated and a method will be determined for this. Urban agriculture activities are carried out today, albeit partially, in Konya/Selçuklu, which was chosen as the sample area, but there is no study to explain this urban agriculture statistically and/or through a complete spatial inventory. Lack of data on actual and potential uses of urban agriculture can be an obstacle to implementing urban agriculture effectively. Therefore, it is important to create an inventory in order to establish guiding principles and targets and to take advantage of emerging opportunities. In addition, inventorying and mapping of existing urban agricultural areas is the first step in developing effective policies and plans for urban agriculture and presenting them to decision makers in an accurate and consistent manner. In the study, the agricultural potential of the existing potential urban public areas of Konya/Selçuklu district has been tried to be determined by considering the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) method and other methods used in determining the urban agricultural potential. For this reason, firstly, urban agriculture typologies were determined by creating a land inventory and urban agriculture potential was evaluated. Secondly, A GIS-based suitability analysis was carried out identifying the existing public vacant or underutilized (idle) lands that could be used for urban agriculture. As a result, both the most suitable urban agricultural areas map and inventory maps determining the existing urban agriculture typologies were created for Konya/Selçuklu. In addition, the definitions, typologies, benefits and risks of urban agriculture and peri-urban agriculture are presented, and the past and present situation of urban agriculture is examined. A detailed literature search is presented. As a result, suitable new areas were identified through the development of a public land inventory for Konya/Selçuklu, and suggestions were made for urban agriculture initiatives for Turkey and Konya/Selçuklu. As a result, an urban farm design was developed, which is an exemplary "Urban Agriculture" business.