Determination of strategic objectives and development of planning strategies for open and green spaces of Nigde city

Cities developed rapidly after the industrial revolution with the influence of migrations. With this development, a rapidly growing population has caused crooked settlements in the cities, so that the cities have become disconnected from the nature and become piles of concrete that have no connection with nature. Over time, it has begun to disappear under the influence of urbanization in the green areas, which are the last parts of nature, between the concrete jungle. Niğde, which is located in the Central Anatolian region of our country and has a unique beauty with its natural and cultural values, has been planned for the urban development at different times from the past to the present, but has not got a holistic zoning plan due to renovations and revisions in the zoning plan. Some of the uncertainties that have arisen with these revisions and renovations in the zoning plans have prevented the development of the city within a certain projection. The open green areas especially wide fertile agricultural areas in the city, which has a high development potential, has been adversely affected because of its development according to the plans prepared at different times. For this reason, in order to develop the city in a sustainable and planned way, it is necessary to determine strategic objectives and planning strategies for urban open green spaces. The aim of this study, the determination of the status of the open green areas (in the existing and zoning plan) in Nigde, which is a medium sized city, and the sustainable planning strategies for the open green areas of the city are created by taking into consideration the zoning law and regulations in line with the strategic objectives determined by the multi-criteria analyzes made by considering the potential of the city with a sustainable planning approach. In this context multi-criteria analysis methods are used. These; to provide information, maps, plans and satellite images of the study area from studies done for the region and city, to determination of how the city's land cover and land use has changed over the years and how this natural change is affected by this change, to determination of shape and direction of the city's development, to evaluated together in the green space system analysis of active and passive green areas (in the existing and zoning plan) in and around the study area, to mapping of the spatial distribution, accessibility, impact areas, per capita active green areas in the present and zoning plan on the basis of urban and neighbourhood, to conducting A'WOT [Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in SWOT analysis] analysis as a result of interviews with expert groups. According to the results obtained from the analysis, although there was no rapid population increase in Niğde city, there was an increase in the settlement areas in time due to the developments. Due to the increase, the natural and semi-natural areas of the city and the green areas of the city and its surrounding areas have become fragmented and diminished. It has been determined that there is an active green area of 4.09 m² per person in the study area and this ratio is 18.87 m² in the zoning plans according to the current population. According to the plan capacity population, 6.29 m² of active green area per person was determined. In addition, it was observed that active green areas did not show a homogeneous distribution throughout the city and were insufficient in terms of quality and quantity. Thanks to the natural and cultural assets of the city, it has been determined that it is possible to create an open and green space system in the whole city with the use of green belt, green wedge and natural and artificial ecological corridors. As a result of the synthesis of the obtained analysis results in a holistic approach, sustainable strategic objectives for the open green areas of Niğde city have been determined and planning strategies have been created in line with these determined objectives. Thus, proposals have been developed for the preparation of urban development plans, in which the open green areas, which are the social needs of the individual, are adequately provided and the harms to the natural and cultural structures are minimized.