International Conference on Changing Cities II - Spatial, Design, Landscape & Socio-economic Dimensions, (Porto Heli, Peloponnese, Greece), 22-26 June 2015, ed. Aspa Gospodini, University of Thessaly, ISBN: 978-960-6865-85-5, pp:1835-1844, Thessaloniki. 1 Methods to Mitigate the Environmental Impact of Highways – The Example of D-100 Highway in Anatolian Istanbul E. Aktuğlu Aktan* Yıldız Technical University – Faculty of Architecture, Department of Urban and Regional Planning Yıldız Campus, Beşiktaş, İstanbul, Turkey esinaktan@yahoo.com N. Ç. Erkan Yıldız Technical University – Faculty of Architecture, Department of Urban and Regional Planning Yıldız Campus, Beşiktaş, İstanbul, Turkey nilgunerkan@gmail.com Summary Global climate change and environmental pollution are some of the most pressing current problems in the world today. Research suggests that mega-cities and urban transportation activities are the leading culprits of global climate change. Motor vehicle traffic is also a source of certain toxic gases, dust and noise emissions. In the long-term, these factors threaten human health. The main axis of this study is based upon practices in highway buffer zone. These practices have been evaluated in terms of sustainability, ecology, environmental / human health, applicability, cost and traffic safety. Practices along either side of the D-100 Highway in Anatolian Istanbul have been discussed with consideration to international examples and guidelines. Considering dense development along this axis, this study offers healthy city design suggestions for buffer zones along highways running through the city. Key words: Highway buffer zone, global climate change, landscaping applications, urban design Introduction Population growth along with uncontrolled expansion and sprawling has made vehicle transportation imperative. The number of people using private vehicles is increasing due to the shortcomings of public transport options (low comfort etc.). Such trends render inner-city roads inadequate. On the other hand, while cities continue to grow and sprawl due to population growth and changes in land use, high-speed motorways gradually transform their roles and capacities in the form of main arteries within the city. This course within the overall process has a number of negative effects on the urban citizen. These primarily include noise, air pollution, magnified urban heat island effect, health problems etc. This declaration discusses design suggestions for high capacity highways running through the city with the aim of minimising their negative environmental impacts. The main axis of the study has been constructed on practices concerning highway buffer zones. These practices have been evaluated in terms of sustainability, ecology, environmental / human health, applicability, cost and traffic safety. The study was carried out on the Anatolian part of the D-100 Highway which has gradually become an inner-city road that has heavy traffic but allows for speeding when uncongested. The study identified and investigated problem points along the route between the Bosphorus Bridge and Kozyatağı. The most salient practices in front of different functions (shopping mall, hotel, hospital,