The role of the slow city approach for achieving socio-cultural sustainability: Gokceada as a case

The effect of globalisation on people and cities caused loss of unique properties. In 21st of century, cause of the negative effect of globalisation, sustainable urban development approaches are developed. With the ambition of developing a sustainable future, the settlement models which include different priorities, carried out in various scales all over the world. Slow city model -aimed the small cities, population under 50 000- is one of the popular models for the cities which sustain their natural environment and socio-cultural structure. This approach is applied on 262 cities in the world with discourse of increasing urban quality of life in small cities. Therefore within the scope of this thesis, slow city model is considered as an important approach for achieving the goal of sustainable urban development and the studies udertaken for conservation of urban identity. Island-city Gökçeada became a member of slow city movement in 2011, taken into consider of local products, uniqe urban layers and combined cultural structure. After this membership Gökçeada became the first and only slow island of International Slow City Community. As a slow city, the advantages of its unique socio-cultural values and local production potential should be evaluated. However, in Gokceada where a holistic planning approach has not been developed yet, the potential of being a slow city in achieving sustainable development has not been benefited efficiently. As part of this thesis, physical and socio-cultural properties, slow city membership process and included studies analized together. For these analyzes, archive analyzes, observations, interviews and semiotic readings have done. After the determination of the relationships between the slow city criteria and the components of sustainable urban development and the studies carried out in successful slow cities, recommendations were developed to ensure the sustainability of the island, especially in the socio-cultural context. It is expected that improved proposals will shed a light to the further studies for the sustainable development of Gökçeada and other slow cities with similar characteristics.