Abstract |
The greenness of Istanbul Bosphorus, except its natural vegetation, is gathered in its parks, gardens and groves. The greenness of the Bosphorus identifies itself with the groves that also have great monumental value. Today, in Istanbul, there is a great number of groves that belongs to either governmental or private institutions. Recently, these groves have experienced increasing pressure from the great number of visitors and their potential use. The latest inventories indicate that existing use patterns of the natural resources of groves affect the trees and plant diversity negatively. Overuse of specific sites causes damage to vegetation especially for exotic plant species that are rarely found in Istanbul. This paper is aimed to describe progress on a system that enables optimal dispersion of use patterns and sustainable use of the groves for future protection. The “User Inventory for Istanbul Groves” was developed to include periodic user observation and user survey in order to maintain groves effectively. For this reason, the computer technology is used as an evaluation tool for examining the user survey results and physical data of the groves that concentrate especially on Yildiz Grove. For the purpose of the study, Yildiz Grove is divided into different zones based on the physical conditions and potential use patterns of the grove and a system is developed that depends on sensitivity for usage. |