The Historical, Cultural and Economic Impacts of Transforming Traditional Urban City to Resilient Smart City

Abstract

This chapter is mainly focused on how a traditional city can be transformed into a safe, inclusive, resilient and sustainable smart urban city, which is the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11). The municipal region of Catalkoy-Esentepe has been chosen as a case study to investigate the potential of its transformation process and the necessary action plans, policies and objectives to be implemented to achieve sustainability objectives of SDG 11. The region is very rich with its historical and archaeological sites, that is attracting many foreigners to visit or reside. Additionally, there is a large investment incentive program for the development of capacity building in the tourism sector through new hotels and other types of tourism lodging facilities. Other than tourism, the construction sector boomed in the region during the last decade, and the property market became an important source for foreign exchange income as well as employment opportunities to the region. Such economic developments have triggered urban mobility, which increased population growth, the demand for housing and labor force. Rapid economic growth in the region and urban mobility has negative externalities to city life, such as traffic congestion, increas- ing rents, insufficient housing, lack of utility services, pollution, climate change and infrastructural bottlenecks.