Planning Greenway Alternatives within the Rural Areas of Bartın Province, Turkey

Recently overall the world, fragmentation in land uses has increased due to the rapid increase in population, urbanization and unplanned development. Fragmented landscapes have less connectivity and greater isolation. On the other hand, species are negatively influenced in a fragmented landscape. Greenway and connectivity are evaluated in landscape ecological studies in order to mitigate negative ecological conditions in urban areas (UN, 2014; Leitao and Ahern, 2002, Linehan et al., 1995). Under these conditions, linear green elements within the rural areas have gained prominence to be considered within greenway planning studies. Nowadays, rural areas obtain increasing importance. These areas include ecological, cultural and agricultural resources (Randolph, 2004). The importance of the rural areas was emphasized in “Agenda 21”. In the report, pertaining to the rural areas, planned, sustainable use and development requirements were specified. Sustainability is a fundamental approach in planning and management studies to improve the ecological conditions (Leitao and Ahern, 2002; UN, 1992). Bartın is a small province in northern part of Turkey. It is located in the northwestern part of Black Sea region of Turkey and covers approximately 230,000 ha. It also includes historically valuable centers. The population of the Bartın have increased up to 190,708 in 2015 (TUİK, 2016). Climate of the study area is dominated by humid mesothermal climate regime (Atalay, 2011). Study area is rainy throughout the year due to the airflows which comes from the north where the Black Sea is located. The average annual temperature and precipitation of the area are 12.6 oC and 1030 mm, respectively (Atalay, 2011; MGM, 2016). In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the greenway approach around the concept of landscape planning and development process within the rural areas of Bartın Province