Analyzing Urban Neighborhood Sustainability: Case of Göçmenköy, Nicosia

Abstract

Due to the rapid urban growth and development in many cities nowadays, the aspects of sustainability in those areas show an extensive disruption and neglect to the city's identity and this usually happens due to unplanned urbanization, wreaking havoc to the local's way of life and threatening the future of those areas, and their neighborhoods. Göçmenköy which is one of the oldest neighborhoods in North Cyprus, constructed back in 1963, in time of economic and social instability, that took a toll on the sustainability measures that should have been taken, yet managed to still be standing until today. Nowadays, due to urbanization process of the city by the great influx of students and immigrants, the neighborhood saw a rapid increase in housing settlements and road networks along with shops and other services. This caused a drastic change in the life style of the area, and showed an intentional disregard for user needs in terms of spatial planning. Within this manner, this study aims at analyzing the effect of urbanization of the area in terms of sustainability, in micro and macro scale levels, for example: density and context, movement patterns, land use, climatic designs, and community issues in Göçmenköy. The methodology adopted Oktay’s model (2001) that performs critical evaluation of the sustainability of the neighborhoods along with the help of Geographical Information system (GIS) and field surveying. The final evaluation was summed up into a table with three scales (good, fair, and poor) assessing sustainability levels of the neighborhood. The results showed an overall good result in regard to land use planning and movement patterns owing to the presence of all needed services within a close proximity from any point inside the neighborhood and good transportation network that goes across the neighborhood. Additionally, fair result in terms of density and context and community issues due to the mixing of urban pattern employed and low affordable housing.