Impacts of universities on the social, cultural and economic development of the cities: A study on the example of Artvin Coruh University

Starting from the earliest years of humankind, education, which has been an indispensable part of human life, has developed in parallel with the development of mankind. In this process, each culture, from one part of the world to another, has developed a specific education form and system on its own. Since the 20th century, under the influence of globalization, important changes and transformations in socio-cultural, economic and political dimensions have been experienced in the world; the world has almost turned into a global village. In line with this, universities have also been affected by those changes and transformations. The effects of universities on the economic, social and cultural development of the city are investigated in the present study by considering the historical development processes in the example of Artvin Coruh University. The study was carried out using quantitative research method. In terms of data collection, survey method was used. The center of the city was chosen as the research area due to the fact that the university has the highest number of units there. The population of the research was determined as 35.180 according to the address-based population registration system of the TURKSTAT. Concerning the TURKSTAT data, the number of the participants was determined as 754 using random sampling method. The questionnaire form used in the study contains 54 items in total. SPSS 22,0 program was used to obtain statistical results from the answers of 754 participants to questionnaire items. The analysis of the results showed that university is considered as the most important factor in the development of the city. The university has positive contributions to the city in terms of social, cultural and economic fields. On the other hand, it has been concluded that the city-university relationship and the university's compliance with the traditions and customs of the city are not sufficient. Furthermore, it has been found out that the increase in the workplace and house rents in the city can be regarded as negative effects of the university on the city in terms of cost of living. With the findings obtained, it can be concluded that Arvin Coruh University has positive effects on the economic, social and cultural development of the city of Artvin, and has significant contributions to the people of the region in terms of education as well as the increase in urban environment and infrastructure services. Keywords: Urbanization, Sustainability, Urban Development, Artvin, Artvin Coruh University