The Cities Security and Poverty

Abstract

EKISTICS 2013 Ankara Meeting was held between 7-llth, June 2013 in Ankara/Turkey, at both Middle East Technical University (METU) and Hacettepe University Beytepe Campus. At the METU sessions, following the opening speech by Prof.Dr. Ahmet Acar Sector of METU), Prof.Dr. Guven Arif Sargin (Vice-President of the Chamber :f Architects of Turkey) and Dr. Umit Ozcan (Vice President of Chamber of Gty Planners of Turkey) made remarkable presentations on the main theme of the Meeting with special reference to the recent events that the Turkish society experienced in June 2013. The sessions at Hacettepe University Beytepe Campus started with an open- ng address by Prof.Dr. Reyyan Ba§aran on behalf of Prof.Dr. Murat Tuncer, Rector of Hacettepe University. The exhibition prepared and presented at the end of Hacettepe sessions by the Departments of Graphic Design and Ceramics at the Faculty of Fine Arts on the very theme of the meeting was impressive. The exhibition broadened, illuminated and visualised the theme of the Meeting. During all the sessions exciting discussions were made on the papers that were presented. The papers presented are classified under the following sub-themes: i) ur­banization, urban life and cities, communality and security, ii) urban and re­gional disparities and degradation, urban transformations, socio-spatial ex­clusion, urban renewal projects, iii) urbanity, crime, social alienation, security and gender problems, iv) socio spatial contexts, socialization and security, v) global national geopolitical context, vi) security, ecological issues, security and sustainability, and finally, vii) disaster security, planning and design. At the Doxiadis Lecture, Prof.Dr.Baykan Gunay, from METU Department of City and Regional Planning, made an impressive presentation on the Spatial History of the Capital Ankara. Following the lecture, a city tour for the purpose of exhibiting the traces of planning activities from the Early Republican period to recent urban development in Ankara was guided by Assoc. Prof.Dr. Cagatay Keskinok. The aim of the EKISTICS 2013 Meeting was to synthesize the contributions of different disciplines varying from planning to design, from architecture to ur- banism, from geography to sociology, to urban policy and management stud­ies, from engineering to human studies and to public health etc., in an overall understanding of the science of human settlements, within the agenda of the problematic issues of security and poverty. We hope that the EKISTICS 2013 Ankara Meeting has made significant contributions to the Science of Human Settlements in relation to the main theme of the Meeting. On behalf of the Organizing Committee of EKISTICS 2013, constituted by Prof. Dr. Ru§en Kele§ (Former President, WSE), Prof.Dr. Ali Cengizkan (Dean, METU Faculty of Architecture), Prof.Dr. Meltem Yilmaz (Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts, Hacettepe University), Prof. Dr. Melih Ersoy (Chairperson, METU Department of City and Regional Planning), Prof.Dr. A. Guven Sargin (Chairperson, METU Department of Architecture), and Assoc. Prof.Dr. H. Cagatay Keskinok (METU Department of City and Regional Planning,) we would like to express our gratitude first to the Rector of METU, Prof.Dr. Ahmet Acar, and to the Rector of Hacettepe University, Prof.Dr. Murat Tuncer, to the Chamber of Architects and to the Chamber of City Planners of Turkey for their support and contribu­tions to the organization of the EKISTICS 2013 Ankara Meeting. We are grateful to our youngest colleagues, the 2013 graduates of METU Department of City and Regional Planning, for their valuable contributions, after a long period of final examinations they shared all responsibilities and the burdens of the organization. We should not ignore the invaluable roles played by Burak Buyukcivelek as Contact Person of EKISTICS 2013, Duygu Cihanger as Visualisation and Design Coordinator, Pinar £obanyilmaz as Ac­commodation and Meeting Activities Coordinator and Ozan Bilge as Informa­tion Technologies Coordinator. We thank them for their voluntary efforts in the organization of the meeting. We are also grateful to Prof.Dr. Ali Cengiz­kan, Prof.Dr. Guven Arif Sargin, Prof.Dr. Agni Vlavianos-Arvanitis, Assoc.Prof. Dr. Serap Kayasu, Burak Buyukcivelek, Dr. Ezgi Orhan Nalbantoglu, Duygu Ci­hanger, Prof.Dr. Meltem Yilmaz, Asst. Prof.Dr. Meltem §enol Balaban and Prof. Dr. Rujen Kele$ as moderators of the sessions.