Cittaslow municipalities in Turkey in terms of sustainable environmental policies

This study focuses on 21 cities from Turkey that are members of the Cittaslow International Cities Network, which has left its mark in the last 25 years in search of sustainable urban models. Aiming to protect the architecture, local food, clothing and all the elements that distinguish cities from others, which make up the cultural identities and memories of cities in thousands of years of urban history, Cittaslow draws attention with its worldwide success. Since the formation and development of cities are the determinants of the level that humanity has reached in the modern age, the subject of city history and municipal services of the city has been given enough space. At a time when overcrowding is killing the virtues of the city, to prevent small places, which are obscured by the megacities that swallowed up the small cities around them, from falling under the hegemony of national and international capital; Although it may seem utopian, it is possible with anti-globalization city models. While globalization continues its imperial expansion with neoliberal economic policies, resisting it again depends on the economic sense. Tourism stands out as the way to keep Cittaslow alive with its green nature, clean air and water, traditions and local flavors. In this sense, the sustainable existence of Cittaslow cities almost imposes a tourism-based urban economy. However, this study focuses on how successful Cittaslow, which counts environmental protection at the top of its criteria, can be in the Environmental Policies title, which consists of 12 criteria and requires some expensive investments. While the main purpose of making small cities live with their local culture, which is tried to be explained above, is obvious, Cittaslow cities in Turkey have to make sufficient efforts to protect the urban environment from the degenerating effects of tourism and crowding. These efforts for the sustainable existence of the city, especially the continuity of the sustainable environment and economic existence, have to be among the sevice priorities. In Turkey's administrative structure, considering the duties, financial resources and institutional capacities of municipalities, which are one of the local government institutions in terms of location, adaptation skills to the Cittaslow philosophy have been tried to be revealed. In this study, in which environmental policy data of 21 Cittaslow cities in Turkey are handled and evaluated, an overall performance level of 61,8 percent was calculated on the basis 12 criteria. There is no city that meets all the activities such as separate collection of solid wastes, filtering and draining of sewage wastes, composting of wastes, renewable energy investments, which are among the criteria that force the municipal budgets. The municipalities of Köyceğiz, Seferihisar and Vize demonstrated an exemplary success by meeting the 10 criteria and reached the level of 83.3 percent.