Urban development zones as a risk factor in sustainable urban planning process: An evaluation for Balikesir-Turkey

The effects of climate change are being felt more and the impact of cities is increasing in this process. Cities hosting more than half of the world's population are both offenders and victims of climate change. Therefore, cities have a critical importance in terms of fighting against climate change. In this process, in addition to economic and social issues such as consumption consciousness, mode of production, adaptation with nature, responsibility of future generations, etc., the physical planning process of cities has indirectly great impacts. Codes of development zones identified in the macro plans, in particular, may lead the cities in the future construction process in terms of potential energy consumption and carbon emissions. The energy consumption process of cities can be discussed under four subheadings such as embodied energy, operational energy, transportation energy, and maintenance energy. In this case, the potential burden of embodied energy and transportation energy will be imposed as soon as the development zones in the plans are coded. At this point, the size, location, design, and implementation staging of development zones are of importance. In this study, subject is addressed under planning legislation and practices of Turkey and is evaluated with the example of the city of Balikesir. In the study, energy consumption in urban areas, the concept of development zone, and site selection are discussed within the theoretical framework primarily. Then, the city of Balikesir was analyzed and the development zones coded in the upper scale plans were evaluated. © Peter Lang AG 2020