Resilient Urban Form: A Case Study on Denizli, Gaziantep and Muğla:

Abstract

Purpose This study identifies whether the hierarchy, development type, and city size have a crucial effect on resilience in ecological terms. Is there a desirable optimum urban form for resilience? The study aims to answer this question by comparing different types of macroform and density of some selected cities in Turkey. Design/Methodology/Approach Denizli, Muğla, and Gaziantep provinces are selected according to the comparability of their population size and urban forms in relation to the greenhouse gas emissions of each city. A retrospective causal comparison method was used in the study. Using the Corine Land Cover Classes program, the change of the artificial surfaces and the city structure between 1990 and 2018 were mapped and detailed graphics were created. Findings Findings show that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions originating from road transport in Muğla, which has a multi-centered form, were the highest. The surprising result is that Gaziantep has lower GHG emission rate than Denizli although its population is twice the latter. The emission rates of the housing and services sectors were compared with the household size. Gaziantep having the largest household size has the lowest emission rate in this sector. The paper suggests that a hierarchical urban system structure is essential for the resilience of the city to be able to organize itself more effectively, adapt to external changes faster, and create a stronger and more complex structure. City size is an important criterion for low infrastructure cost, efficient use of resources, and capacity to access capital of all kinds. Yet, this criterion may differ in the resilience of the city depending on several factors such as population, area size, and distribution of various urban functions. The development type, on the other hand, is highly effective on GHG emissions as the monocentric cities generate fewer emissions than the polycentric cities. Research Limitations/Implications The GHG reports created for the case areas consisted of different years and different analysis units. This limits the sectors to which cities can be compared. Originality/Value This article is a detailed and original study in terms of evaluating the resilience of Turkish cities with different morphologies.