Evaluation of Universities in the Context of Urban Location: The Case of Konya

The location selection of universities in the city, which is the last step of formal education, is an issue that should be examined on the scale of the ‘university-city relationship’ as a part of urban planning. Universities, where location selection is made without adequate examinations and largely due to the influence of the property situation, can have negative effects on the development of the city and also cannot provide the desired result in the city-university relationship. The development of the relationship of universities with the city and the urban society in which they are located is a situation that benefits both sides. So much so that many universities in western countries have become the driving force of the city, cities have existed with their universities and have developed within the cities of the world. Universities will benefit from the social, economic, cultural, and technical services of the city in which they are located in order to fulfill their duties. The main important thing in the university-city relationship is that the knowledge, thought and research products produced by the university can be adopted and used by the urban society. One of the most important conditions for achieving this is the location of the university in relation to the city, that is, its location inside or outside the city and how it is planned. The fact that the university is close to the city center facilitates the emergence of a multifaceted university-city relationship, but this does not make it absolute. Although there are universities that close their doors to the outside world despite being located in the city, there are also universities that are scattered within the urban fabric but have not lost their institutional integrity. With this study, it is aimed to draw attention to the ‘university-city relationship’ and to reveal how the universities in the city of Konya exhibit an urban settlement characteristic. In this direction, five universities located in Konya were included in the study. The urban settlements of these universities in terms of accessibility, socio-cultural and spatial aspects. With the examination carried out, it was concluded that the universities located in Konya could not integrate with the city in general and that the university-city relationship could not be adequately ensured.