a b s t r a c tThis study introduces the exergy analysis method into the field of urban planning, in order to find out the amount of energy that can be conserved in a building block when an energy efficient construction design is applied. This was done in four steps. First, energy efficient design parameters were derived from the literature and design alternatives were developed accordingly. Second, data was gathered from the case area for the exergy calculations. Third, exergy analysis of existing building blocks and proposed design alternatives were separately carried out. Finally, the amount of decrease in the exergy loss due to suggested energy efficient design was found out. The results show that the exergy efficiency of the existing building blocks is about 2%, while the proposed design alternatives will be around 10e11%. The overall exergy loads of the alternative plans were found as 166.3 W, 225.1 W, 142.5 W and 137.8 W respectively for winter and 105.4 W, 140.0 W, 89.9 W and 86.3 W respectively for summer, on a housing unit basis. As a result, the suitability and importance of the exergy analysis on the built environment was proven, by revealing actual and considerable energy conservation and sustainable use of energy through application of energy efficient design parameters.

Nowadays, buildings are usually designed with an abstract and single perspective. This study shows that the context in which it will be located and the climate in which it is built also need to be considered.At all levels of land-use planning decisions, the use of energy has to be taken into account and urban planners have to develop solutions for efficient use of energy. Land-use patterns directly affect energy consumption and influence energy systems. This is seen, for example, from the small scale of "a house" to the large scale of "a country." No matter what the scale of land investigated, it is crucial to understand the significance of efficient energy planning in the contribution to global energy conservation.When looking from an energy-efficiency point of view, the different properties of the spatial structure are important. The fundamentals exercised when planning and decision making for local energy-efficiency planning are as effective for decisions on a regional scale (Owens 1990). Beside properties like orientation and microclimate on the smaller scale, wider spatial properties are also important on a larger scale. On a small scale, direct forward changes bring considerable improvements, for instance, adjusting the orientation of the building for the sake of energy saving and not adding extra cost to the construction. For comprehensive

In the coming decades, climate change will be one of the most significant challenges for urban areas. The quantity, duration and intensity of events, such as flash rains and heat waves, will increase the vulnerability of urban regions while exposing citizens to potentially dangerous conditions. According to the current literature, mainstreaming resilience in urban planning means designing rules that strengthen urban systems’ adaptive and self-regulating functions by reducing their vulnerability. In this work, we aimed to build knowledge for the application of the sponge district concept to Izmir (Türkiye), one of Europe’s most vulnerable areas to pluvial flooding. To do this, we first analyzed the runoff in each urban sub-watershed, then employed a composite index to determine potential areas of intervention for nature-based solutions. Results show that 10% of Izmir’s urban areas are extremely vulnerable to cloudbursts, which means that 40% of the urban population is exposed to this phenomenon. Moreover, the runoff calculation in the sub-watershed demonstrated that the potential flood volume is underestimated, especially in the upslope areas. The results can be used as a template to suggest a stepwise approach to mainstream the resilience of densely-inhabited coastal urban catchments.

Modeling ecosystem services is a growing trend in scientific research, and Nature-based Solutions (NbSs) are increasingly used by land-use planners and environmental designers to achieve improved adaptation to climate change and mitigation of the negative effects of climate change. Predictions of ecological benefits of NbSs are needed early in design to support decision making. In this study, we used ecological analysis to predict the benefits of two NbSs applied to a university masterplan and adjusted our preliminary design strategy according to the first modeling results. Our Area of Interest was the IZTECH campus, which is located in a rural area of the eastern Mediterranean region (Izmir/Turkey). A primary design goal was to improve habitat quality by revitalizing soil. Customized analysis of the Baseline Condition and two NbSs scenarios was achieved by using local values obtained from a high-resolution photogrammetric scan of the catchment to produce flow accumulation and habitat quality indexes. Results indicate that anthropogenic features are the primary cause of habitat decay and that decreasing imperviousness reduces habitat decay significantly more than adding vegetation. This study creates a method of supporting sustainability goals by quickly testing alternative NbSs. The main innovation is demonstrating that early approximation of the ecological benefits of NbSs can inform preliminary design strategy. The proposed model may be calibrated to address specific environmental challenges of a given location and test other forms of NbSs.

The efforts for the conservation of cultural heritage in historical settlements are a highly problematic and multi-faceted issue in Turkey. Although the conservation legislation dates back 50 years, the cultural heritage has not been internalized and not accepted in wider parts of the society and, has not found a solid political base. The historical and cultural heritage areas are mostly marketed for tourism and turned into places as the simulacrum of the elitist and middle class tastes. Tenedos (Bozcaada) Island inherits the rich cultural heritage of two millennia.The Island is in danger of losing its social, cultural and multi-ethnical characteristic where Turkish and Greek societies live harmoniously. The architectural, economic and ecological values are also in danger because of the rise of touristic activities and the construction of vacation homes as well as the State's withdrawal to provide subsidy to the agricultural sector that took place after the 1980s in parallel with the general economic policies adopting global economic restructuring. The objective of the paper is to highlight the multidimensional character of the social and spatial process which is enmeshed in the conservation activities of the Island. The values and norms, social, economic considerations in the conservation activities need a new approach and, without existence of a common will and a wider participation of the society it is hard to expect any success in the conservation of the rich cultural values, and to assess, develop and carry them into the future.A bundle of techniques are used: a large survey analysis of the area is realized and its social, historical and physical characteristics are documented. Questionnaires, in-depth interviews are used in order to detect the difficulties for conservation of the heritage in part of the responsible public bodies. The public and tourism sector opinions, thoughts and aspirations are surveyed. Even though,