Determining design strategies for improving public use in coastal areas: Case of Çeşme/İzmir

The concept of fragmentary planning which has dominated the tourism planning in Turkey for many years brought about many problems such as overcrowding in the coastal areas, lack of infrastructure, the rapid depletion of natural resources, the disappearance of the original values of the place, the uniformity of spaces on the axis of mass tourism, loss of local identity and belonging and so on. Especially in recent years, increasing interest in coastal areas has led to the realization of significant private use in such areas that should be owned by the public. It is seen that the coastal areas have been allocated to the use of a certain group by means of hotels, holiday villages, marinas, private beach, second homes and similar uses. This situation causes a significant decrease in the public space as well as public use on the coasts and brings an unbalanced structure away from the integrity of the local region. This study examines the changing nature of public space and public use in coastal areas through the example of Çeşme, İzmir, which is one of the leading tourism towns of the country. Private uses for tourism purposes, which have increased in the coastal areas of the district since the 90s, have significantly damaged public use of the coast. This unbalanced growth in the tourism sector has not only deteriorated the natural ecological structure of the region, but also has the negative consequences of the gap between the social and cultural profile of local people and visitors. This study focuses on the change of land use types that restrict the public use in coastal areas of Çeşme Peninsula and aims to develop strategies in the scale of urban design so as to improve public use on the coast.