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.

City of Başakşehir

Ambitions, Vision & System Analysis

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

Local Partners Involved in the UNaLab Project

Latest Updates

Related Information

The Follower Cities’ Journey Towards an NBS Roadmap

The UNaLab project’s five European follower cities are currently working on developing their roadmaps for nature-based solutions, which will support the cities in achieving their sustainable urban development and resilience goals. This roadmapping process consists of a series of three workshops in which the follower cities, together with local stakeholders, will co-create their own NBS roadmaps.

Başakşehir 2050: Smart City of Happiness and Well-being

Since the start of the UNaLab project, the city of Başakşehir has aimed to develop the most feasible nature-based solutions that will have a positive impact on all the stakeholders and especially all the citizens of Başakşehir. The Municipality has developed three ambitions, which later were fine tuned to three focus areas for the Municipality’s vision.

Roadmaps for climate resilient futures

Five of the UNaLab follower cities have completed their roadmaps towards a climate and water resilient future through nature-based solutions. For this process, different sets of inspiration cards on relevant NBS, value creation, governance actions, financing options, and co-creation tools were developed to support the planning process with available scientific knowledge. These cards are now available for anybody to use who wants to spark their NBS discussions with some new ideas.

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