Urban rehabilitation and social sustainability: In case of Ortahisar, Trabzon

As being living organism, cities can be influenced by social, physical, economic or politic changes occured in urban areas in time. If those changes affect the city in a negative way, urban patterns are not able to fulfill its previous functions and gradually it might result in decaying period. In order to solve this urban problem, urban rehabilitation projects have been used for years. This concept has been widely studied especially in European countries after the II.World War whereas it has gained importance in Turkey after 1980s. At first, urban rehabilitation projects were dealt with economic and physical concerns. However, after confronting the negative outcomes in social structure, it is understood that those projects should also be prepared regarding to social concerns. Thus, European countries have started to use an integrative approach for urban rehabilitation projects by combining social, physical, and economic aspects and to investigate the relationship between socially sustainable societies and urban rehabilitation practices. However, the social concerns of urban rehabilitation projects are not fully considered in Turkey. During the projects, local inhabitants of the area might be forced to leave the rehabilitation are which resulted in the loss of urban identity in time. Urban rehabilitation projects have significant impacts on protecting both historical environments and cultural heritages. In addition to that, strategically organised rehabilitation projects can help to create more sustainable environments not only for current public use, but also for the next generations. For this reason, this study aims to highlight the importance of urban rehabilitation processes especially in historical cities which helps to promote the sustainable urban redevelopment in the longer term. This study investigates a sustainable approach to urban renewal projects in Turkey specificly in terms of social sustainability. In order to emphasize the importance of social sustainability of urban rehabilitation projects, this research deals with a case study area of Ortahisar neighbourhood, Trabzon. Through this case study, it is questioned how social sustainability of an urban renewal area can be achieved. It is suggested that social sustainability can be provided by some critical sustainability indicators and tools. After implementing on-site analyses, observations and surveys in Ortahisar neighbourhood, suggestions for more socially sustainable urban renewal project is made for the case study area. It is believed that this study will be helpful for succeeding urban renewal projects which aims to conserve historical heritage sites and to satisfy people's needs.