City centers

Aydın Türk, Y. (2001). Kentsel Gelişme ve Kent Merkezlerinin Dönüşümü: Trabzon Örneği (Published master thesis / YÖKTEZ Database). Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Trabzon. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.20556.67203

ÖZET:
Trabzon kenti örnek alınarak kentsel gelişme olgusunun kent merkezinin mekansal biçimlenmesi ve dönüşümü üzerindeki etkileri incelenip geleceğe yönelik planlama çalışmaları için kent merkezleri ve merkezi alanların planlama kararlan, ilke ve ölçütlerini saptamayı amaçlayan bu çalışma altı bölümden oluşmaktadır. Birinci bölümde, kentsel gelişme- kent ekonomisi arasındaki ilişki, kentsel gelişmenin kent merkezleri üzerindeki etkileri, kent merkezlerinin dönüşümü, Türkiye'de kentleşme olgusu, tarihsel gelişme sürecinde ticaret ve ticaret atanlarının mekansal yapısı çeşitli boyutlarıyla incelenmiş ve bu bağlamda, Trabzon kentsel gelişme ve kent merkezinin dönüşümü irdelenmiştir. İkinci bölümde, analiz ve anket çalışması yapılan alanlar tanıtılmakta, çalışma ve değerlendirme yöntemleri verilmektedir. Üçüncü bölümde, analiz ve anket sonuçlarından elde edilen bulgular verilmektedir. Dördüncü bölümde, analiz ve anket sonuçlan doğrultusunda Trabzon kentinde ticaret ve hizmetlerin mekansal ve niteliksel değişimi, kentsel işlevlerin analizi konulan irdelenmektedir. Beşinci bölümde, çalışma sonunda elde edilen sonuçlar açıklanmıştır. Altıncı bölümde ise, araştırmada elde edilen bilgilerin değerlendirilmesiyle geliştirilen öneriler sunulmuştur.

Aydın Türk, Y. (2017). The Development of Commercial Functions From The Past to The Present and The Trends in Downtown Changes: The Example of Trabzon. In H. Arapgirlioğlu, A. Atik, R. L. Elliott, & E. Turgeon (Eds.), Researches on Science and Art in 21th Century Turkey (Vol. 1, pp.1299-1306). Ankara: Gece Kitaplığı.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION:
Due to urban development, the commercial functions in Trabzon city center have changed and improved both qualitatively and quantitively. The city center first expanded to its surrounding areas sporadically like oil stains. Some of the functions in the center moved out of the center and due to the outward sprawl of the center some new centers were born. Some functions concentrated in the newborn subcenters and they gained a specialized subcenter character.
The urban functions that developed and changed parallel to the developments in technology, communication and transportation emerged as specialized subcenters outside the city center in the east and west for such reasons as logistical convenience, parking facilities, proximity to the coastal road and need for the use of larger areas.
The newly emerging types of trade or land uses that are determined by planning decisions and certain investments concomitantly attract certain types of trade and service. For this reason, when making plan decisions it is important that land uses and designs should be taken into consideration. When one considers the functional centers outside the city center that require use of large lands and where it is possible to drive cars, it is necessary to make a good planning for mass transportation and personnel vehicle transportation. The city has shown a linear development, is very close to the surrounding settlements and has been in interaction with them. For this reason, it is important that a holistic and comprehensive planning approach should be adopted for the whole of the city. Within Trabzon has had the status of a metropolis and in this context, it is important and necessary that in the planning works for the peripheral settlements, planners should adopt approaches towards the conversion of the fragmented structure into a more holistic and sustainable structure.

This article discusses trends in the distribution of retail development in Tirana (the capital of Albania) and its surrounding areas. The story of these trends in Tirana exhibits unique characteristics connected to the city's exceptional population growth and exceptional densification since the end of the communist era in 1990. Tirana provides an example of how a center city can continue to dominate retail commerce when there are very limited restraints on residential and commercial density in the inner city and very limited foreign investment in retail development.► An example of how a center city can continue to dominate retail commerce ► The effects of limited restraints on residential and commercial density in the inner city on retail development. ► The effects of limited foreign investment in retail development on the level of suburban shopping malls.

Since the end of the 2000s, the question of the decline of French medium-sized cities has become central within the scientic and public debate. More specically, two processes are underlined: the devitalisation of city centres on the one hand, and urban shrinkage on the other hand. The devitalisation of city centres has been studied in several institutional reports. It is characterised by high rates of vacant housing and high street shops vacancies, a fall in visits to the city centre , an impoverishment of residents and population losses. In geography, urban studies and planning, the dynamics of urban shrinkage have been discussed since the 1990s. They comprise a multidimensional urban crisis, triggered and characterised by job and population losses. This paper attempts to explore the relationships between these processes by underlining their similarities and differences with data analysis and multivariate clustering methods. By comparing medium-sized cities with small and large cities, the speci cities of urban decline in medium-sized cities are explored. It appears that cities are not homogeneously affected by urban decline. More particularly, a large number of weakened medium-sized cities display a distinctive feature: markers of decline are concentrated in their urban core.

Since the end of the 2000s, the question of the decline of French medium-sized towns has become central within the scientific and public debate. More specifically, two processes are underlined: the devitalisation of city centres on the one hand, and urban shrinkage on the other hand. The devitalisation of city centres has been studied in several institutional reports. It is characterised by high rates of vacant housing and high street shops vacancies, a fall in visits to the city centre, an impoverishment of residents and population losses. In geography, urban studies and planning, the dynamics of urban shrinkage have been discussed since the 1990s. They comprise a multidimensional urban crisis, triggered and characterised by job and population losses. This paper attempts to explore the relationships between these processes by underlining their similarities and differences with data analysis and multivariate clustering methods. By comparing medium-sized cities with small and large c...

The purpose of this work is to find answer to the question of what kind of challenges are encountered in the preparation process of a conservative plan. The preparation process of Conservation Revision Plan of Kütahya Historical City Center has been examined in detail from the perspective of the planning authorities. Case study, literature review, document analysis and in-depth interview methods were used in this study. The fact that the Kütahya Historical Conservation Area does not have a current base map, the absence of archival records giving accurate information on structures in the historic area, negative effects of the master plan decisions on the protection practices taken against the planning area and environment, bureaucratic problems and lack of conservation in public opinion and in stakeholders have been of the difficulties in the preparation process of Kütahya historical city center conservation plan. Research findings give ideas to the competent authorities about the precautions that should be taken before starting the making of a conservation plan and to guide the plan makers. The question of how to obtain a conservation plan that is more qualified and fully responding to needs is an answer to this study.

The paper analyzes one monumental city square in Sofia (Alexander I, later Ninth of September) as one of the key components in the (re)arrangement of the central urban space after the advent of socialism in Bulgaria in 1944. Though focused on the socialist period, the research outlines also the development of this place as a palatial square in the previous monarchic period as a plane of historical comparison. The analysis treats the square not merely as an artifact of urban planning but rather as a stage and a frame – and hence, a legitimizing symbol – of a historically particular political culture (state socialism), as a material manifestation of its ideology and a physical field of its public rituals. Therefore, the research scope is not limited to the square itself but envelops the urban development of its wider spatial context, the political center of Sofia, and the architectonic structures around which public dynamics in the city center gravitated spatially and symbolically. In regard to the architectural implementations in this fragment of the city space, the highlight is the Mausoleum of Georgi Dimitrov and special significance is placed on the spatial tension and ideological opposition between the mausoleum and the former royal palace as a manifestation of the clash between two antagonistic political regimes (monarchy and people’s republic). The analyzed urban topoi were constitutive elements of the governmental center of Sofia and therefore, the central urban space delineated by them is perceived as a visualization of power, and the architectural projects for its reconstruction – as expert solutions of a task of largely political importance rather than as autonomous creative ideas.

Aydın Türk, Y. (2012). The Effects of The Arrangements in A Historical City Center on The Commercial Functions: The Example of Trabzon. European Journal of Scientific Research, 70 (4), 511-525. Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84857470048&partnerID=MN8TOARS

ABSTRACT:
This study investigates the effects of renovation, improvement and preservation works in the historical center of the city of Trabzon. The historical center of the city has a more intense and more private business and service types than the sub-centers. In addition, it is one of the parts of the city which has the most buildings that reflect the historical, architectural and cultural heritage of the city. The problems that have been brought about by urban development in the traditional center have made it necessary to carry out some preservation and improvement works. In order to unveil the effects of preservation and improvement works in the historical city center, this study focused on three main arteries of the city (Kunduracilar Street, Uzun Street and Maras Street) which have undergone such works, and in order to unveil the (physical, environmental and economic) effects of such works on the users, a questionnaire was administered to 239 business owners who were either the owners or renters of the shops. The general findings of this study are that the preservation and improvement works that are made in the streets of the historical city center affect the preferences of the business owners in their choice of shops; that they increase the volume of customer and shopping; and that they decrease inactivity in the area. The study has also found that parking lots, landscaping and recreation areas are not enough. Other important findings revealed by the interviews with the business owners are: that the complaints of the shop owners about the area should be taken into consideration in the future plans for the purpose of improving the commercial and environmental standards; that infrastructure and rehabilitation programs that will support such open space arrangements as landscaping and recreation areas should be given priority; and that it is necessary to create solutions for the preservation and reuse of the historical values of the area. In addition to these, it is anticipated that another study which will be held in the future and which will employ the customers as the sample will be quite useful for a comparison between two samples (customers and business owners).