Analysing Temporal Changes in Urbanization and Green Areas in Kahramanmaras

Abstract

Within this research realized in the city of Kahramanmaras, areal changes for urban land use types occurred in 2000, 2006 and 2012, and the effects of these changes on the green areas have been analyzed. During the analyses realized by using high resolution satellite images and geographical information systems, it is concluded that land use types have been changed in 25372 decare which generates 25% of the study area. Areal coverage of the active green spaces has been increased four times during 12 years, but this improvement has not affected positively the rate of square meter per person, opportunity for access by walking, mean surface area of the parcels, and the rate in the whole urban area of the green areas. For improving ideally the urban green area sufficiency in the city, a great deal of green areas should be established, the parcels should be planned large and distributed homogeneously throughout the city, and these approaches should be adapted to urban development plans.