About Başakşehir
Başakşehir is one of 39 second-level districts of Istanbul, founded in 2008. The population amounted to 342,422 in 2014 and is estimated to increase to 800,000 by 2020. It is home to one of the largest organised industrial zones in Turkey with more than 20,000 SMEs and is very advanced in technology and innovation applications. Başakşehir actively provides its citizens with many services using information technologies and carries out projects to provide these services.
Başakşehir is facing numerous challenges, due to climate change and fast population growth, such as heat stress, pollution, biodiversity loss and water scarcity. To tackle these challenges, Başakşehir aims to implement several nature-based solutions. The city's vision for 2050 is to be a green city with trees along paths, green river beds and connected green and blue areas, which people can enjoy and which make walking and cycling an attractive option. The aim of the city is also to have zero waste water in 2050, but instead focus on storing, recycling and treating the water so that it can be used multiple times. Başakşehir's primary focus is on the implementation of public green spaces and similar nature-based solutions to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions and to mitigate climate change effects in the city.
Ambitions, Vision & System Analysis
Ambition Setting
An ambition workshop, which included several sessions with policy makers, strategy departments and internal and external stakeholders, was held to obtain a thorough understanding of the city’s ambitions and specific contexts. The result of the ambition workshop was a set of strategic ambitions for the city.
Vision Development
The vision workshop included several sessions with internal and external stakeholders to define and visualise the desired future for the city. Building on the strategic ambitions, a vision of the desired future scenario for the city in 2050 was developed.
System Analysis
To understand the status quo as a point of departure towards achieving the city’s desired future vision, a systems assessment was conducted to assess the city’s sustainability performance and to support the development of projects to strengthen sustainability and resilience in the city. The analysis also mapped potential stakeholders to help support the roadmapping development process, as well as identified potential sites for NBS implementation.
Ambitions of Başakşehir for 2050
Watch follower city Başakşehir present the ambitions for the city on climate and water resilience and nature-based solutions for 2050.
Presenter: Ömer Onur, Başakşehir Living Lab
