Identifying of urban open green space strategies: The case study of Guzelbahce (Izmir)

Urban open green spaces positively affect people's quality of life and make cities more livable. However, it is a fact that the standard of open green spaces; are usually lower than minimum standards, do not have a balanced distibution, are not sufficient enough to meet the society's basic needs and have very limited ecological value. The main purpose of this thesis is combining and implementing appropriate and ecologically sustainable open green spaces strategies for our cities. For this issue, Güzelbahçe district was selected fort the field study and planning & implemention studies were held between 2012–2014. Studies are combined in 4 steps; formulation the participation of people (the survey), identification the open green space typology, making a SWOT analysis for the current situation and identification and implementation of recommendations for the future open green spaces strategies. The results of the study; determined the amount of open green space per capita in the district, it has been found to be insufficient to quality values of open green space and solutions have been developed. Keywords: Open green space, open green space analysis, open green space strategies, strategic planning and management, landscape management, Güzelbahçe