Browsing by Author "Sahin, Savas Zafer"

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Can Military Zones Be an Opportunity for Revitalizing Ankara's Green Belt and Upper Scale Urban Planning?
(Kare Publ, 2016) Sahin, Savas Zafer; Department of Public Administration and Political Science; 17. Graduate School of Social Sciences; 01. Atılım University
[No Abstract Available]
An Evaluation of Using Innovative Information Systems in Local Governments in Turkey: the Case of Cankaya Municipality
(Acad Conferences Ltd, 2012) Sahin, Savas Zafer; Erkan, Turan Erman; Cekic, Anil; Industrial Engineering; Department of Public Administration and Political Science; 17. Graduate School of Social Sciences; 06. School Of Engineering; 01. Atılım University
In the last three decades, waves of globalization caused an upsurge of interest about localities and local governments with respect to various factors of production and consumption. Turkish case is no exception to this change. Beginning with 2000's, Turkish government initiated a new program for a renewed distribution of authorities between central and local governments resulting in rescaling of Turkish state. New authorities and responsibilities were decentralized to local governments. As the local governments in Turkey became the locus of all political activities, debates concerning institutional capacity of them became wide-spread. It has been widely argued that although increasing number of authorities were transferred to local governments; they lack necessary institutional capacity and know-how to manage increasing number of responsibilities and changing spatial structure. For this respect, the problem with local governments in Turkey has three facets. First of all, decision-making mechanisms of local governments is weak, both process wise and with regards to rationality, accountability and transparency. Mostly, political patronage is more influential than good governance. Secondly, implementation level of innovative information systems in decision making-mechanism with regards to spatial issues, service production and public participation is poor. For instance, although information systems like UIS (Urban Information systems), IAM (Intangible Asset Management), IRP etc. are used, they are either poorly integrated to management system or became obsolete because of lack of proper performance measurement and evaluation. In Turkish case there is a clear gap between management practices of local government service delivery and use of innovative information systems. In this paper, it is aimed to portray the underlying dynamics and problems behind ineffective use of innovative information systems in local governments in Turkey. For this purpose, one of the largest and well-known district municipalities of Turkey, Cankaya Municipality in Ankara is taken for a case study. Cankaya Municipality's technological capacity and use of innovative information systems is assessed in terms of accountability, decision-making, and public participation. Results of the assessment will be used to develop some strategies and tools for improving municipality's capacity to make better use of information systems.
Citation - WoS: 1
Evolution of the Relationship Between Urban Planning and Urban Infrastructure
(Kare Publ, 2018) Sahin, Savas Zafer; Department of Public Administration and Political Science; 17. Graduate School of Social Sciences; 01. Atılım University
In the face of disasters caused by climate change and ecological degradation, the future of cities has become closely interrelated with the sensitive balance between urban planning and urban infrastructure. Integrated sustainable urban planning and management approaches, where the relationship between urban planning and urban infrastructure is re-examined to manage urban risks, manage the capacity of existing infrastructure, and adapt to climate change have been discussed for a long time. Particularly in the last 2 to 3 decades, in various countries and for different reasons, urban planning and urban infrastructure investments have diverged. Under the influence of neo-liberal policies, the urban planning process has often been transformed into a mechanism of re-distributing urban rents via urban projects, and urban infrastructure investments are presented to society as mega projects to help legitimize the effects of this transformation politically. This dissociation results in an inefficient and ineffective use of resources, a negative effect on the urban ecosystem, and an urban daily life that is fragile and disrupted. The development of a framework that re-integrates planning with infrastructure is an inevitable necessity.
Citation - WoS: 1
Citation - Scopus: 2
In What Sense an Evolution of Metropolitan Planning Actors?
(Springer international Publishing Ag, 2020) Sahin, Savas Zafer; Galland, Daniel; Tewdwr-Jones, Mark; Department of Public Administration and Political Science; 17. Graduate School of Social Sciences; 01. Atılım University
This chapter addresses the changing roles of actors in metropolitan planning considering generations of metropolitan reforms where planning strategies and policies are shaped by agents with oftentimes conflicting conceptions and agendas about metropolitan planning. We identify and examine the transformation of key metropolitan planning actors in relation to fluctuating planning styles and assess the unintended consequences associated with changing power relations. We use illustrative examples from the West and Global Southwhere ad hoc actors and constellations of actors shape metropolitan planning in different ways. The overall contribution is to provide a trajectory of the changing nature of influential actors and the interests that lie behind the redefinition and reinterpretation of metropolitan planning.
Citation - WoS: 12
Citation - Scopus: 13
The Urbanization Policy of Turkey: an Uneasy Symbiosis of Unimplemented Policy With Centralized Pragmatic Interventions
(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2019) Sahin, Savas Zafer; Department of Public Administration and Political Science; 17. Graduate School of Social Sciences; 01. Atılım University
Regarding urbanization policy in Turkey, one can observe how policy-making efforts continuously have moved away from transnational influences and reverted to more pragmatic, national-oriented practices in the last three decades. The results of different attempts to make sustainable urbanization policy for Turkey are vivid examples of how aspirations to reframe national urban development pattern through policy transfer failed and a nationalistic, pragmatic and authoritarian intervention, each time more hard-hitting than before, emerged with dire consequences. Occasionally, distinctive characteristics of the Turkish experience manifested itself in the uneasy symbiosis of policy-making with neo-liberal practices in cities. Using qualitative methodology, this study provides an account of Turkey's urbanization policy-making episodes in the last decade to show how consecutive attempts to use policy learning and participation as leverage gradually alienated policy intermediaries and allowed strengthening of neo-liberal interventions in urban sphere.