Groundwater in local development strategies: Case of Izmir

Abstract

This study takes into account groundwater in local development strategies of Izmir, in which rapid and uneven development has occurred in recent decades. Therefore, resilience thinking is needed in the future development of the city-region. To this end, the paper aims to make an analysis of recently completed asset-based local development strategies for Izmir city towards water resiliency. The methodology has two main steps. Firstly, by using spatial interaction analysis of peninsula and river basins, potential vulnerabilities and risks are indicated. Secondly, a stratified model of strategy evaluation is conducted by scrutinizing the existing layered approaches. Then, these models were applied to all strategic decisions including water resources and indicated a high level of consistency to achieve sustainable and resilient use of blue-green infrastructure in the future of Izmir’s metropolitan area. Local assets, including water resources, are the backbone of future development of the Izmir city-region. Therefore, usage of local assets in a multi-level perspective of strategy development needs to be understood. The stratified model denotes that special emphasis should be given to different river basins in different levels. This study illustrates that synergy management is needed between different layers of local development strategies, in which the role of urban and rural households is of the utmost importance.