Urban Transport in the OIC Megacities
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5.2.1. Land use planning and urban form
Karachi is a monocentric city where over 70% of the businesses and about half of the retail trade and
public services are located in the central business district. Rapid population growth and spatial
expansion have led to a sharp increase in the demand for urban transport facilities as they were not
accompanied by the appropriate development planning. Five urban plans have been developed for the
city since 1949 but none of them has been implemented in the city. As a consequence the city suffers
from a chronic shortage of basic facilities such as housing, water supply, electricity and public
transport. It is estimated that 50% of the population of Karachi currently lives in informal housing.
The density of the population varies significantly from the city centre to the suburbs, reaching more
than 24,000 people per square kilometre in the densest, central areas.
5.3. Istanbul Urban Background
Istanbul has been an attractive location since even before the Byzantine era due to its strategic
location, connecting Europe and Asia through the Bosporus Straight. The city has experienced rapid
growth after WWI and became the core of the Turkish economy. Today, Istanbul has a population of
14 million (18% of Turkey). The average population density has increased from 1,000 people per km2
in the 1980s to an average of 2,400 people per km2 today, varying considerably up to 20,000 people
km2 in central areas with peaks of 40,000 to 70,000 people per km2 in totally urbanised areas on the
European side (Alpkokin et al, 2005; Hennig, 2011). Istanbul remains Turkey’s centre of economic
activity, where almost one fifth of the country’s GDP is produced.
5.3.1. Land use and urban form
Two thirds of the population of Istanbul live on the European part of the city. However, the population
of the Asia part has grown more rapidly since the 1980s. Migration, particularly from the southeast
part of Turkey, has expanded the urban limits and new residential areas have spread across the shore
of the Sea of Marmara and also beyond the municipal limits, into the northern forested areas towards
the Black Sea. As a result of the rapid and extensive growth the city has changed from double centred
(Eminonu – Beyoglu) to multicentre with various sub centres on the European and Asia side. New
areas away from the original city centre have developed as car dominated residential or mixed use
with industrial and business parks (Henning, 2011).
The polycentric form of the city was supported by the 1995 Istanbul Metropolitan Area Sub-Region
Master Plan which aimed to achieve linear and multi-centred urban growth, but with a degree of
hierarchical ranking. The main target of this plan was to abandon the concept of the double centred
developed as under the burden of rapid urbanisation this could destroy the historical identity of
Istanbul. Policies to achieve this involved developing ranked sub centres, generating wing attraction
centres, and the preparation and application of development plans, and removing the Law Courts,
buildings of the Central Government, and similar public bodies and institutions, from the city centre
and redistributing them to the sub centres. Supporting policies included creating organized
employment areas and generating feasible, low priced land and planning the integration of
employment areas into the residential settlement areas while considering acceptable travel time
lengths for access (Alpkokin, 2005).
5.3.2. Institutions and organization
Istanbul’s urban transport authority, IETT, was created in 1939, when tram, Tünel (a short funicular
between Pera and Galata), bus and electricity establishments, which had been operated by various
foreign companies until that time, were nationalized. Today, IETT is responsible only for the public
transport system, which includes buses, BRT (Metrobüs) and Tunnel Operations and also responsible
for the management and inspection of Private Bus Transit Services. Istanbul’s metro and light network
are operated by Ulasim, ferries are operated by Sehir Hatlari and IDO. These divisions work and are