Sustainability in Urban Management: Istanbul and Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipalities

Abstract

Developments in economy, industry, education and technology have made cities more attractive and accelerated urban migration. The intense migration of cities has brought many problems in urban life by causing the rapid growth of cities. As a result of intensive migration, meeting the demands, needs and problems of the increasing population has become a priority for urban governments. As in the past, where resources should be limited and transferred to future generations, it has a very important place today. To prevent the rapid and beautiful growth of cities and to pay attention to the use of resources, a sustainable urbanization approach is needed today. By means of sustainable cities will be ensured to live in healthy, orderly and safe cities not only today but in future generations. Meetings and conferences are organized in the international arena in order to ensure this. As a result of these meetings, the theoretical framework of the concept of sustainability has been established and the question of how to achieve sustainable development has been discussed for many years. By focusing on the three dimensions of the concept of sustainability, it was tried to determine the goals that should be set in social, economic and social terms. In the realization of these goals, as well as the private sector, public institutions have very important duties and responsibilities. In this study, the place of sustainability concept of two cities from Marmara Region, which is the most populous region of Turkey, in the city administration of Istanbul and Kocaeli, is examined. In this context, the concepts of sustainability in the strategic plans and activity reports of the metropolitan municipalities of the two cities, the elements of the concept of sustainability, whether they have plans and projects to do in this context, and their similarities and differences are questioned.