URBAN AREAS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Sustainable development is a term that was first used before the public in adocument "Our Common Future" prepared by a commission of The United NationsEnvironmental Programme. It envisages the aims and methods of development and industrialization being in harmony with the physical facilities of the Earth. Thus,preventing excessive extravagancy, it aims at a steady developmental process forthe people of the world, and securing resources that will allow development in the world of the future generations. There are different definitions for "sustainable development". In terms of economic means, it can be defined as "the best management of scarce resources". It can also be interpreted as "maximizing the netbenefits of our economic development". Another definition might be "using our resources without reducing the income of the future generations". Rapid increase inpopulation and urbanization in this century has led to some imbalances in the ecosystem, which is composed of a system based on the interconnection between the human and nature. Rapid growth of urbanization and thus the negative developments taking place in the structure of urban population is one of the major causes of air pollution.The city has the nature of influencing the environment directly and negatively as a result of the increasing urban population. Especially,the urban population settlement on agricultural lands and the destruction of urban and fertile areas in terms of natural resources and so forth have led to the negative environmental developments.