Determining the active green areas and their adequacy by using satellite images and GIS: The case of Nevsehir City (Turkey)

Abstract

In cities, green areas are important places providing several physical, social and psychological benefits for people in addition to their ecological functions. For this reason, the amount and quality of green areas are considered as the indicator of civilization and life quality. Countries enact standards for these areas in their planning tasks. In the present study, the distribution, amount, impact area, and adequacy of the active green areas in the city of Nevsehir were determined on whole city and neighborhood scales in line with the predetermined standards. For this purpose, Geographic Information Systems were used in processing and analyzing the data; satellite images were used in determining the green areas; and the Google Earth Street View was used in classifying the data. According to the results of the analyses, it was determined that despite the fact that green areas in Nevsehir are significantly below the standards quantitatively, they had a high level of accessibility in the whole city according to service impact areas. In addition to this, the advantages that were presented by the method that was employed in the present study were evaluated in the analyses of these green areas.