Urban forest context of urban green infrastructure Bolu assessment of multi-functional usage characteristics

Urban forests, the most important green areas of cities with the ecological, aesthetic and architecture, physical and functional,social and economic benefits, have been one of the basic elements of urban green infrastructure. Bolu Urban Forest was chosen as a research area.As the study area; Bolu Urban Forest has been selected to find out the recreational potential and and in order to ensure public uses. Observing the recreational potential of study area, it is aimed to contribute for future field studies for the area on the purpose of raising multiple function properties to the level of developed countries. In this context, firstly, the analyzes of the present situation of Bolu UrbanForest were transferred to the maps by using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies. Then, expert opinion, visual landscape quality, recreational potential, SWOT analyzes were applied to the research area. 75 expert surveys were conducted to determine the multifunctional features (ecological, physical and climatic, aesthetic and architectural, social and economic benefits) of the Bolu Urban Forest. Later 14 photos have been selected for the research area for visual landscape quality analysis. Bartın University Landscape Architecture and Forestry Engineering departments and Atatürk University City and Regional Planning, Architecture and Landscape Architecture students. The questionnaires were analyzed in the SPSS 17.0 program. In order to determine the current recreation potential of the area, it was analyzed by Gülez (1990) method and the recreational potential of the area was found to be 42%. This value indicates that the current recreational potential is low. SWOT analysis was carried out in order to identify existing and potential problems for the field. According to the studies made, the multi-functional usage characteristics of the area are determined according to the functions of urban forests. In the light of the analysis and landscape evaluations obtained, proposals have been developed for the Bolu Urban Forest to reach the standards of urban forests in the developed countries.