Spatial transformation of agriculture in urban-rural relations: Torbalı district (İzmir)

In the 19th century, with the development of industrialisation, there has been a process of change and transformation from rural to urban areas. In fact, with industrialisation, the employment opportunities of the city in the fight against poverty have taken its place as one of the main factors accelerating rural-urban migration. Increasing migration and the fact that the city has exceeded its current carrying capacity have created the need for spatial expansion towards the periphery. Globalisation and competition in world markets, which became dominant in the 1980s, have been identified as another important factor that has increased urban-rural occupation.
The aim of this study is to prevent the destruction of agricultural areas, which are of primary importance for vital activities, in the urban-rural relationship and to raise awareness on this issue. Within the scope of the study, Torbalı district of Izmir was selected as the sample area. Geographical Information Systems and plans of Torbalı district at different scales were used as a method. In this direction, the aim is to monitor the impact of urban development trends in Torbalı on agricultural areas in temporal (1990, 2000, 2012 and 2022) and spatial terms. Consequently, it has been established how much of the urban settlement areas in the Torbalı district, particularly the development and pressure on agriculturally important areas, and how much of the agricultural lands have been destroyed by this urbanisation pressure and what kind of land use type they have transformed into. In addition, in light of the data obtained, strategies have been developed to prevent this urbanization pressure on agricultural land.