The bedroom community of Yenikent would benefit from integrating its growth with regional urban development plans. Photo by auselen.

The Center for Sustainable Transport in Turkey (SUM-Türkiye), based in Istanbul, has expanded its reach to develop proposals for low-carbon transport in three more cities: Antalya, Kocaeli and Sakarya.

The Center has been engaging with local transport authorities and the national government to reduce transport-related greenhouse gas emissions since last fall, when it participated in the tenth International Transportation Forum, "Vision 2023," hosted by the Turkish Ministry of Transport.

THREE CITIES

In a follow-up request from the Turkish government, SUM-Türkiye conducted an initial scoping visit to Antalya, Turkey’s fourth largest city, to observe and evaluate transport infrastructure and operations. Subsequent meetings with transport officials identified two priorities for the city: improving traffic signals and developing cycling infrastructure.

In another city, Kocaeli, the historic center of Turkish industry, SUM-Türkiye has been asked to develop an alternative to their on-road transport system. Existing transit services, plagued by overcapacity and inconsistent service, are currently being provided through a mixture of privately owned and operated minibuses, midibuses and the publicly owned bus system. With guidance from SUM-Türkiye, the city is exploring the option of a BRT corridor that would link the central business district with the east-west transit corridor.

SUM-Türkiye is also starting to do work in Sakarya, located about 160 kilometers east of Istanbul. The city was destroyed in the 1999 earthquake, and to shift urban development to safer ground, a satellite city was developed 15 kilometers northwest of the city center. Ten years after the earthquake, the satellite city of Yenikent, which literally means "new city", has become a bedroom community where citizens commute to Sakarya to meet virtually all of their needs.

Recently, people have begun to move back to downtown Sakarya. With this in mind, city officials are looking for ways to keep Yenikent an attractive and viable community, while also recognizing there is tremendous potential to build cycling infrastructure in Sakarya, where retirees and the working class residents use bicycles as their primary means of transport.

EXPERT OPINION

To help address the concerns of these cities, SUM-Türkiye invited Tom Godefrooij of the Interface for Cycling Expertise, a cycling NGO from the Netherlands; and Robert Cervero, renowned professor of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkley to visit both Antalya and Adapazari, the capital of Sakarya Province.

Godefrooij’s analysis indicates that both cities show a high demand for cycling and are good candidates for new cycling infrastructure. Godefrooij has since delivered detailed proposals for each city, which are currently under review by the local authorities.

Prof. Cervero assessed the opportunities for transport-oriented development in Antalya, where he met with members of the Department of Urban and Regional Development, who helped him review the growth potential and future plans for the city. Prof. Cervero also developed a proposal to integrate Yenikent's growth into plans for the region, as a whole, as a way to end the city's isolation. This is currently under review by city officials.

"The expansion into these three cities is not only exciting, but especially significant considering that it was a result of 'word-of-mouth' publicity," said SUM-Türkiye Director Sibel Bulay. "We hope to continue our success, building on the value we have brought to other partners in cities like Istanbul."