Project Summary

One of the most basic reasons for the existence of cities is the living environments with different physical characteristics. These living environments are complex and multidimensional by their nature and have been formed as a result of different processes. There is an important relationship between the spatial characteristics of living environments and the health and well-being levels of the inhabitants. Acquiring living environments that can be qualified as livable, supporting a high quality, healthy and active life can only be achieved by analyzing the building blocks of these environments well and explaining the relations between socio-economic characteristics and physical environment.​

The main hypothesis of this project is that the elements that make up the physical building blocks of the living environments (for example, the nature of land use and the location choices of various urban services, the density of living environments, the morphological and topological characteristics of road networks, the spatial distribution of urban resources and services) are based on the levels of physical activity and social interaction of people, It has a significant effect on body mass indexes, mental health and well-being levels in relation to active living. With this project, it is aimed to examine the physical characteristics of the living environments (morphometrics obtained from road network morphology), land use diversity and density, population density, various socio-economic characteristics of the inhabitants, and urban health indicators (physical activity, obesity and depression) at different scales by using these characteristics. In addition, as an example of the rapidly increasing evidence-based studies in Turkey with the vision of a healthy, life-satisfying and high-quality city, the relations between the living environments and the settlements will be examined within the framework of a community-participatory model.

In order to obtain living environments that support sustainable urban development and physical movement, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of designing the social and physical integration of these areas with the urban environment, determining the accessibility features, and supporting active life, apart from the physical structure and facility features in the cities. If this is done, both high physical quality living environments will be produced and environments with a high sense of belonging/adopting towards the living environment will be created in settlements with high social and economic benefits, where all segments can access these living environments fairly, and where individual and social benefits are kept at the same level. For this reason, legislation, plans and strategies that are effective in the production of living environments should be evaluated at different scales and in order to obtain living environments that support healthy and active life, by dealing with all of the previous/existing characteristics in a holistic way.

Up to the present, no determinations related to the urban built environment have been made in terms of cities that support active life in Turkey except for the rural/urban distinction. With this study, analyzes will be made by covering different variables at geographically different levels (region, province and neighborhood scale throughout Ankara), health indicators for physical activity will be associated with spatial characteristics, and a community-participatory model that includes subjective evaluations in the analysis will set an example for other future studies. At these different levels, for the first time, relational analyzes will be performed using spatial statistical analyzes (stratification, clustering, spatial autoregression, etc.) with various variables including features of road network morphology such as connectivity, betweenness, and proximity.

The theoretical approach of this study is relational and multidimensional. The relationships between the quality of life scales and the selected data will be analyzed with the help of spatial statistical analyzes and the analyzes will be associated with the behavior patterns of the individuals. With the findings obtained as a result of the analyzes, both regional and urban health policies that support active life at the upper scale can be developed, and urban infrastructure strategies and spatial design principles can be determined at lower scales.

 

 

 

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