Network governance approach in urban policy making: The case of İstanbul public transportation policy

Network governance, which is one of the post-modern discussion topics of the public administration discipline, is seen as a new organizational model in contemporary network societies. Though the complexity of political and administrative processes in both national and local contexts, this organizational model based on network relations established between state, society and market actors suggests that problems can be solved through tools such as cooperation, coordination, horizontal relations, interdependence, informality, multi-actor, volunteerism, negotiation. However, the presence of network and governance elements included in the approach and the complex nature of the problems entail a more detailed and critical approach to this organizational model. From this point of view, the main problematic of the study has been determined as investigating the applicability of the network governance approach in the processes of building and implementing Istanbul public transportation policies. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to make a network governance analysis by creating an analysis framework that includes theoretical and practical contexts for the network governance approach in urban policy making and implementation processes. On the basis of main and sub-research questions determined in line with this purpose, network and governance, network governance and urban policy making are examined in theoretical sections; in the third part of the study, a case study, qualitative and quantitative techniques are used, is carried out in Istanbul. According to the results obtained in the study, it is determined that the network governance approach in general has an operational ground in the creation and implementation of Istanbul public transportation policies, which can be described as a complex problem, but it cannot be considered independently of the nature of the network relations between the relevant policy actors and the actors' perceptions of the network governance arguments. In addition, the study contains more specifically inferences directly to the prominent arguments of the network governance approach and indirectly to the actor, problem and process-based features of Istanbul public transportation policies.