Fringe belts in the process of urban planning and design: comparative analyses of Istanbul and Barcelona

Abstract

Throughout history, many heuristic approaches have been used to maintain an \nefficient development in urban planning. One of these approaches is urban morphology. \nUrban morphologists and geographers have been studying urban fringe \nbelt concept since the last half of the century; however, it is not a well-known \nconcept in planning and design scales. Understanding the effects of different planning \npolicies on fringe areas, their locations and functions are crucial to grasp the \nvalue they redound to the city. In this study, several concepts were evaluated by a \nscoring system to understand these effects; and by this method, fringe belts of Istanbul \nand Barcelona have been determined and compared. Urban fringe belts are \nthe urban entities, which have been created between the building cycles at urban \nperiphery, then embedded within the city during the urbanization process. Fringe \nbelts are usually urban heritages and ecologic corridors which also have tourism \npotential and importance in terms of the traditionalism and sense of permanency. \nBesides, these areas are the buffer zones which protect nature and rural areas \nfrom the negative effects of the city. However, as a result of the rapid population \nincrease and need for new development plots, especially inner fringe belt areas \nwhich locate at the city center have been seen as new development areas. This \nsituation which is called fringe belt alienation has taken as the main problem and \nevaluated in this study. For a well city development, these areas should be taken \ninto consideration as urban entities in urban planning and design processes and \nshould have enforcement on decision makers. Protection of the fringe character \ncan create an urban quality, an inheritance to be left in the future.

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