Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Land Use Policy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/landusepol Planned development versus unplanned change: The effects on urban planning in Turkey NeşeYılmaz Bakır a, ⁎ , Umut Doğan a , Merve Koçak Güngör a , Bülent Bostancı b a Erciyes University, Faculty of Architecture, Department of City and Regional Planning, 38039, Talas, Kayseri, Turkey b Erciyes University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Geomathics, 38039, Talas, Kayseri, Turkey ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Urban development Planning systems Master plan amendment GIS (geographical information system) ABSTRACT Considering the planning systems introduced by different schools throughout the world, it can be seen that the flexible and participative approaches gained importance when compared to the traditional approaches, and that different implementation types mediating these approaches are being developed in the new order. In the master plan experience of Turkey, where the traditional approach plays dominant role in practice, the local govern- ments are given the authority of making master plan amendments, as well as the right to prepare the plan itself. But, this practice enabled for the sake of public interest has become one of the frequently used planning in- struments; it moved away of urban plan and a new challenge resulting in the rent has come to the forefront. Within the scope of this study, Kayseri province becoming prominent during the planned development of Turkey since the declaration of Republic was chosen. Within this context, the amendments made to actual master plan of Kayseri province since 2006 until 2016 were taken into consideration by their subjects, and the maps examining the plan amendments were prepared by using geographical information system. In conclusion, it was determined that the specific micro amendments deteriorated the holistic planning decisions made at the be- ginning, and that this deterioration mainly focused on the public spaces. It was observed that, independently from the urban plan, the urban development was shaped with the focus on rent and in parallel with the private purposes. This is on the contrary with sustainable urban land management approaches. 1. Introduction Today’s classical planning approach is being criticized from various aspects such as lack of harmony between spatial development and economic and social development, difficulty in establishing the contact between regional, urban, and local planning frames and scales, lack of integration between short-, mid-, and long-term projects, and the pro- blem of having an inert structure. In countries such as Turkey, where the economic and politic pres- sures are frequently observed, the continuity and integrity of long-term planning approach are constantly deteriorated via plan amendments 1 and plan revisions 2 . But, the master plans are regulatory administrative acts in Turkey and they become legal regulations, to which one shall obey once approved. The plan amendments, limits of which have been set by the laws and regulations, turned into a planning instrument that is frequently utilized. Especially the road expansion requests regarding the expropriation for public space, increasing the height, and altering the structural organization and the requests indirectly related with in- crease in number of floors lead to increase in density in rural areas and significantly change the distribution of urban rent. As a result of these amendments, the structural integrity of plans is constantly deteriorated. In Turkey, significant changes occurred in planning system and organization structure since 1980 s. In literature, there are many studies carried out in order to monitor this rapid change and to explore the new dynamics emerging as a result of these amendment proposals [Ersoy, 1997; Ersoy, 2000; Bademli, 1998 (Case of Ankara); Ulusoy, 1999 (Case of Ankara); Ünlü, 2005 (Case of Mersin); Bal, 2005 (Case of İzmir), Demir (2009) (Case of Zeytinburnu-İstanbul); Altın (2006) (Case of https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.05.036 Received 22 June 2017; Received in revised form 17 May 2018; Accepted 17 May 2018 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: nyilmaz@erciyes.edu.tr (N. Yılmaz Bakır), umutdogan@erciyes.edu.tr (U. Doğan), mervekocak@erciyes.edu.tr (M. Koçak Güngör), bbostanci@erciyes.edu.tr (B. Bostancı). 1 Plan Amendment: Plan amendments are defined as plan arrangements that are made in the event that the law obligates the public interest without damaging the nature of the plan's main decisions, continuity, integrity, technical and social equipment balance based on scientific, objective and technical justifications. 2 Plan Revision: Revision is the renewal of the current plan in urban and environmental areas by making a series of necessary corrections and refurbishments to the implementation plan on the plan without changing the basic policy decisions of the current plan because of determining that the plan is in an effective implementation phase but that this plan is insufficient to direct implementation on changing conditions and when it is deemed necessary to correct it collectively. Land Use Policy 77 (2018) 310–321 0264-8377/ © 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd. T