Remaining peripheral in the centre of a capital city: Rural Neighbourhoods of Çankaya District in Ankara

44969

As a result of the legal modification in 2004, some of the villages were included in the urban centres of their province. Thus, they became rural neighbourhoods of the urban centres. This study aims to examine these previous villages in case of Çankaya district of the Turkish capital city of Ankara and reveal their integration with the urban centre. For this purpose, field studies were conducted in all of the villages within the borders of Çankaya district; 200 questionnaires were applied and subjective data were collected additionally. The City Atlas of the year 2012 was taken as a basis in order to determine the objective characteristics and this data was updated through field studies. In addition, village information forms were created and an inventory was prepared for each village. First, the characteristics of these settlements, which have been within the urban area for 16 years, were revealed by determining which features they have in line with their functions and the services they receive. Then, with the questionnaire, the satisfaction of the people living in these areas with being within the city area, living in the rural area, and their quality of life was determined and whether they have urban features in terms of social relations and activities was evaluated through statistical analysis. The findings revealed that among the rural areas of Çankaya district, those located in the north of Elmadağ mass will join the urban area in a short time, while others will continue to have the rural characteristics. We reached the conclusion that developing, planning, and sustaining the village and city areas based on their characteristics, and revealing their potential will be possible by managing them in different ways in line with their needs. Otherwise, these rural areas (if not on the metropolitan border) will remain within the city border as villages, and unfortunately they will not be able to benefit from neither urban nor rural developments sufficiently.

87

Rural neighborhood , land use , Ankara , Çankaya , life satisfaction

Aegean Geographical Journal

106

Aegean Geographical Journal