Assessment of river landscapes in terms of preservation and usage balance: A case study of the Bartin River Floodplain Corridor (Western Black Sea Region, Turkey)

Abstract

The objective of the study is to develop new river landscape planning strategies to meet the residential needs of local people and to provide land use and development alternatives that would both protect natural and cultural resources, and ensure sustainable growth and development of the Bartin River. The research methods consist of site inventory, analysis, and synthesis through site documents that include maps and IKONOS satellite images. In this study, the natural and cultural landscape characteristics of Bartin River are defined by use of Geographical Information System (GIS) to determine the environmental issues in the research area, as well as core, buffer and usage zones for landscape planning and alternative land use. Specific development of zoning and recommendations are proposed for: environmental problem solution sets, alternative land use planning and broad scale Bartin River landscape planning. As a result of the study, Bartin River is found to have significant potential for preservation and land use balance of river landscapes as well as promote future planning of the region in terms of environmental health and aesthetics. It is essential that food risk and other environmental threats be minimized in consort with comprehensive land use planning for the Bartin River Floodplain Corridor. © by PSP. © 2012 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.