Evaluation of Social Sustainability Performance in Urban Transformation Projects: Yeni Mamak Urban Transformation and Development Project

Urban regeneration projects have become widespread as a means of adaption to contemporary standarts and revitalizing areas that have unhealthy living conditions, lack of infrastructure and facilities, containing social problems and entered into the deterioration process. In metropolitan areas, beacuse of the proximity to centers and high land values, it is observed that the applied projects emphasize economic and physical dimensions in particular. Staying in the background the social dimension in urban regeneration projects cause the incompatibility of the spatial and social structure and adaptation problems of social structure to urban regeneration project. For sustainable urban regeneration projects, the predicted spatial and economic changes need to be integrated with sustainability of social structure. The research aims to social sustainability performance that is not cared in urban regeneration projects in Turkey and develops strategies to improve the social sustainability performance. In this research which is applied in the case of Ankara Yeni Mamak Urban Regeneration and Development Project, in order to evaluate social sustainability performance, Chan and Lee (2008)’s indicator-based approach is used which is containing six titles about user’s satisfaction, conservation of natural resources and environment, open space usage, creation of harmonious living environment, presentation of daily necessities and development structure.According to the results of the questionnaire prepared in accordance with Chan and Lee (2008)’s indicator framework and is focusing on the people living in the project area before and after urban regeneration project, Yeni Mamak Urban Regeneration and Development Project has a good performance in terms of conservation of natural resources and environment, open space usage, creation of harmonious living environments and development structure but in terms of presentation of daily necessities and user’s satisfaction sustainability performance are found inadequate. Although, Yeni Mamak Urban Regeneration and Development Project has factors that affect social sustainability negatively, when all the criteria are taken into consideration, the social sustainability performance of the project is at good level.