Page 297 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 3

Zeynep Özdemir - Merve Özkaynak

goals, targets were set that sustainability of cities can be ensured with the
decisions on urban planning and efficient (sustainable) land use (Karakurt Tosun,
2013:34-35). Effective use of green spaces in land use, raising their standards,
ensuring equal accessibility for everyone can be considered as driving forces for
achieving the goal of “healthy individuals”, one of the sustainable development
goals as well as clean air, clean water and clean environment (UN-HABITAT, 2020;
Özdede et al., 2021:367). Another goal, “sustainable city and life”, which allows
equal accessibility to green spaces for everyone, leads to question whether the
existing green spaces in cities are sufficient.
In recent years, heat islands have been formed in the cities as a result of
the inadequecy of urban green spaces due to poor planning and the increase
of concrete structures (Güneş et al., 2021:31; Erdoğan et al., 2022:167). This
situation disrupts the ecology and microclimate effect in cities and leaves cities
breathless (Gül and Küçük, 2001:31; Ersoy Tonyaloğlu, 2019:2). Green spaces
provide the sustainability of ecology by creating permeable surfaces in cities.
Therefore, due to the lack of green spaces in cities, rainwaters cannot reache
the soil and the water holding capacity of the soil also decreases. As a result of
this, both the ecological balance is deteriorating and the waters that cannot be
caught by the soil obviously cause problems such as flooding (Eşbah Tuncay,
2022:47-55). Urban green spaces make cities more livable by providing a clean
air quality, preventing noise pollution and helping to ensure ecological balance
(Karataş and Kılıç, 2017:64-65). In addition to urban green spaces that appeal to
all ages, specific green spaces should be tailored for various target groups, such
as the elderly, the young and children with special designs. Creating the urban
green areas designed close to the recreation areas which allow people spend
time with their families, friends or alone, is a representative of an important step
in human psychology in Maslow’s hierarch of needs (Çoban, 2021).
In brief, green spaces are the lungs of the cities. Urban green spaces
are the breathing points of the city that increase the quality of life in cities
ecologically, socio-economically and spatially, having a wide variety of sizes
and divided into different functions (Türkoğlu and Kısar Koramaz, 2012:474). In
particular, well-designed green spaces are public areas that urban residents
use as recreation areas where they can safely walk, play sports, and perform
their daily activities (Wentworth, 2016). When arranging the land use, the
structural and open space balance (occupancy-vacancy) in cities should be
well ensured. For this reason, urban open spaces in the public sphere such as
green areas, squares etc. which are among the main areas of the city being
actively used should be designed on the human scale (Dinç et al., 2020:58).
Sustainability of cities as well as the high amount of green spaces in cities per

282 Journal of Environment, Urbanization and Climate