Effects of Urban Planning and Development on the Quality of Bicycle Infrastructure: A Case Study

Abstract

The Public Transportation system in Turkey has long been dominated by motor automobiles. In Turkey, both the central government and local governments have been supporting cycling culture and infrastructure.  This thesis study creates a framework to evaluate a city’s urban planning and development documents for the aim of urban bicycle planning and development. The framework is created from a thorough literature review and from sample urban bicycle plans from different Turkish cities. Also, these Turkish cities were chosen based on their high rates of using urban bicycle infrastructure and having complete and thorough urban bicycle planning and development documents. Furthermore, the framework created from this thesis study consists of different indicators including cycling knowledge and recognition, cycling goals and objectives; cycling planning, policy, and programs; cycling implementation and funding, and cycling maintenance and monitoring. The framework is then applied to Ankara’s long-term urban public transportation as a way to illustrate how the framework can be used to evaluate a city’s urban planning and development efforts regarding urban bicycle infrastructure.