Monitoring urban growth on the European side of the Istanbul metropolitan area: A case study

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey with an area of around 5750 km2 and a population of around 10.8 M (2000). In 1980, the population was only around 4.7 M and so has more than doubled in only 2 decades. In 2000, around 65% of the population were living on the European side of the city with its large industrial/commercial and trade centres. The population is increasing as a result of both births exceeding deaths and mass immigration. Consequently, planned and unplanned housing are increasing while green areas are decreasing in area. Monitoring urban growth will enable the Municipality of Istanbul to better manage this complex urban area.The primary aim of this research was to quantify urban growth on the European side of Istanbul. Six land covers were identified using Landsat 5 TM images for 1987, 1992, 1997 and 2001 and differences in land cover area between these dates were used to determine the rate of change. The accuracy of land cover maps was determined using aerial photographs, topographic maps and field surveys. The overall accuracy of these classifications was between 80 and 86%; urban residential areas increased by around 1000 ha year−1 and forest, semi-natural vegetation, crop and bare soil areas decreased collectively at a similar rate. The paper ends with a discussion of the relationship between urban growth and population growth.