This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Öz Günümüz kentlerinde sanayileşme, nüfus artışı, göç, gelişmişlik düzeyi, ulusal politikalar gibi çeşitli faktörler doğrultusunda gerçekleşen yoğun, planlanmamış ve çarpık kentleşmeye bağlı pek çok sorun görülmektedir. Bu sorunların çevresel kaynaklar, kent mekanı ve kentin yaratıcı ve yürütücü unsuru insan üzerinde neden olduğu etkiler on yıllardır pek çok disiplinde tartışılmaktadır. Dolayısıyla insan ve çevre arasındaki karşılıklı ve kuvvetli etkileşim, insanın bedensel ve psikolojik sağlığını, kentsel tasarımda ele alınması kaçınılmaz konulardan biri yapmaktadır. Özellikle çevre psikolojisi alanında yer bulan insan psikolojisi ve çevre arasındaki ilişki, kentsel sorunlar konusuyla ilgili olarak ekopsikoloji yaklaşımında karşılık bulmaktadır (Rozsak, 1992). İnsan ve doğa arasında yeniden kurulacak bağın çevresel sorunların çözümündeki rolüne dikkat çeken yaklaşım, bu bağın kurulabilmesi için ise bireylerin doğal alanlarda vakit geçirmesi ile elde ettikleri ekoterapi hizmetinin gerekliliğinden bahsetmektedir. Bu gereklilik doğrultusunda bu çalışma, kentin ekoterapi hizmeti sağlayan fonksiyonları ve özelliklerinin araştırılmasını amaçlamaktadır. Bu amaçla ekopsikoloji ve ekoterapi konu başlıklarında sistematik literatür taraması gerçekleştirilmiş, ulaşılan 37 makale içerisinde terapötik mekânların türleri, özellikleri, faydaları ve terapötik aktiviteler incelenmiştir. İncelenen 4 eksen dâhilinde anahtar kelimeler halinde çekilerek gruplanan tanımlar söylem analizine tabi tutulmuştur. Belirlenen fayda, tür, özellik ve aktivitelerin mekânının niteliklerini belirleme konusundaki en önemli araçlardan olan kentsel tasarım süreçlerine sunabileceği katkılar ve dâhil olabileceği aşamalar tartışılmıştır.

The gentrification process has been examined by sociologists, urban planners, geographers and many other professionals since the 1970s. However, despite a great deal of research into the concept, process, and other dimensions of gentrification, there are few studies which consider the importance of the perspective and experiences of residents and users. This paper focuses on the gentrification process and its impact on the nongentrifier residents of the Akaretler neighborhood of Beşiktaş, an area which was transformed following a major restoration project 10 years ago. In-depth interviews were conducted with long-term residents and business owners to investigate how they evaluate the changes in their neighborhood as well as the positive and negative impacts of gentrification on their lives. According to the findings, while the majority of respondents acknowledged the physical success of the restoration project, some of them also pointed out the negative economic, social, and cultural outcomes it has raised over the past 10 years. The outstanding negative issues are social integration difficulties, the lack of affordable properties, changes to property functions, and cultural contrast.

The impacts of problems related to dense, unplanned, and irregular urbanization on the natural environment, urban areas, and humankind have been discussed in many disciplines for decades. Because of the circular relationship between humans and their environment, human health and psychology have become both agents and patients in interactions with nature. The field of ecopsychology investigates within this reciprocal context the relationship between human psychology and ecological issues and the roles of human psychology and society in environmental problems based on deteriorated nature–human relationships in urbanized areas. This approach has given rise to ecotherapy, which takes a systemic approach to repairing this disturbed nature–human relationship. This study aims to uncover the relationship between the physical attributes of urban green areas and their potential for providing ecotherapy service to users, first by determining the characteristics of ecotherapeutic urban space and urban green areas given in studies in the ecopsychology and ecotherapy literature, and then by conducting a case study in two urban parks from the Beylikdüzü District of the Istanbul Metropolitan Area. The impacts of these parks’ changing physical characteristics on user experiences are determined through a comparison of their physical attributes and the user experiences related to their ecotherapy services.

During the last century, the transformation of Istanbul's urban structure from monocentric to multi-centric and its rapid population growth resulted in neighbourhood patterns which are spread across a large spectrum according to their location and their cultural, socio-economic and historical backgrounds. In urban settings, the potential environment is reinterpreted by its users, and is realized through the application of the space and time-specific societal norms within the context of technological advances. The present study investigates the selected neighbourhood patterns from historical to westernized, modern, postmodern (gated) and Manhattanized forms.According to the results of the study, although some of the historical, westernized and modern neighbourhoods have been preserved to a large extent, the haphazard development of high-rise residential buildings has caused traffic congestion, pollution, an increased income gap and changes in land values, and has thus produced functional transformations in their immediate surroundings. In addition, this unnecessary increase in housing density is not only harmful for the city's famous silhouette but also for its traditional neighbourhood relationships. In order to allow a physically, economically and socially more balanced development of the city, it is necessary to control its Gülden Demet Oruç & Özhan Ertekin & Vedia Dökmeci DOI: 10.15320/ICONARP.2017.31 -E-ISSN: 2147 growth and follow a system of planned development which is not solely for the benefit of real estate investors. It is hoped that the results of the study will be useful for the urban and regional planners, policy makers and investors.