Impact of urbanization and tourism on coastal environment

Turkey has been affected by urbanization like other Mediterranean countries since its very first years of development, with a rate increasing from 18.5% in 1950 to about 62% after 2000 (İstanbul ve Göç Konferansı Bildiri Kitabı, Boğaziçi ve Mimar Sinan Üniversitesi, 1995, p.1.). Cities with already inadequate infrastructure facilities have to face congested population problems coupled with illegal settlements due to migration from the eastern part of the country to the western large metropolises. Smaller coastal settlements have become increasingly urbanized as a result of legislative and institutional incentives to encourage tourism investment. Construction of hotels and secondary housing cooperatives has exploded as a result of unearned and real income expectations to the detriment of fertile land, creating aesthetic pollution and loss of tangerine and olive orchards. After a thorough assessment of the impacts of urbanization and tourism on coastal zones, in general, the problem-specific areas, on the Aegean and Mediterranean coastal areas with regard to overriding issues such as salinization of the coastal aquifers due to overexploitation (e.g. Çeşme) and dense construction of multi-storey buildings along the shoreline that resulted in loss of agricultural land (e.g. Mersin), are highlighted and the means for preserving and protecting the Aegean and Mediterranean coastal areas of Turkey from further deterioration are proposed.