Effects of land use development on urban open spaces

City of Aydin has grown extremely due to immigration from the eastern part of Turkey, immigration from rural areas to urban areas of the city and alterations in economic and social structure of the nation. The rapid expansion of the urban area results in dramatic change in the open space system of the town. Understanding this transformation is important to generate sustainable planning in the area. The purpose of this study is to elaborate the different open space opportunities in Aydin and to detect the change in these areas. Black and white aerial photographs from 1977 and 1993 and Ikonos 2002 images are utilized for the analysis in GIS environment. First, 14 different open space types are defined and the open spaces are delineated from the aerials and satellite images. Second, the change in the area of these patches is analyzed. The results indicate that urban open spaces are negatively affected by historic land use development. The natural and agricultural patches diminished while semi-natural or man made open space patches increased. Opportunities to increase the variability in the open space types should be embraced to promote sustainability in the urban matrix. Elogical design of the man made open spaces is necessary to increase their contribution in this endeavor.