A New Route for Regional Planning in Turkey: Recent Developments

Abstract

Since the 1930s, regional plans have been drawn up for various regions in Turkey. However, the institutional practice of regional development policy as well as regional planning began with the establishment of the State Planning Organisation in 1960. After the 1960s, through Five-Year National Development Plans, a regional development policy was defined, and regional development plans were formulated for some specific regions. In practice, there were some challenges and problems during that period in regional planning. The shift in the regional development policy and regional planning began in 1999 with Turkey's accession period to the European Union. For adaptation to the EU's regional policy, some newpolicies, legislation, and institutional set-ups were defined. This chapter mainly focuses on these new policies and instruments, namely the new route taken by regional planning in Turkey.