The “Smart” Transformation of Cities in Turkey: An Analysis of Policy Documents

Introduction

Smart City offers information and communication technologies based solutions according to the needs of the citizens by adding an integrated perspective to the concepts such as livable city, sustainable city, focus city, brand city, green city, digital city. Smart Cities have entered the field of work of both central government and local governments, by improving the quality of life, activating governance mechanisms, reducing bureaucracy, ensuring efficiency and accessibility in management and services, and many similar benefits. In this context, many institutions and organizations publish strategy documents to plan and guide smart city studies.

The term “electronic government” (e-government) became widely known at the turn of the 1990s and 2000s, it is being created in order to organize digital interaction between government authoritiesand its various branches, citizens, public organizations, and business, a complex of information Technologies. And the term “digital government” first appeared in the middle of 1990s. The issue placed on the agenda of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) organized by the United Nations, and World Bank has taken up its implementation in developing countries (Ziyadin, et al., 2020, pp. 2-3). In line with these developments, The technological transformation of state policies in Turkey began in 1993 with the Informatics and Economic Modernization Report in cooperation with the World Bank.

Referring to studies that shape the national policies of Turkey, It can be accepted that Turkey's basic policy documents for the information society, published in 1999, starts with Turkey's National Information Infrastructure Master Plan (TUENA). Since this date, many documents, the responsibility of which is made by different institutions, have been published in various years. In the study, some policy documents published from early 1990s to 2010s were mentioned. The documents were evaluated in the context of the transition to “smart technologies” as of the subject of the article. In the reports published in this period, while the concepts of e-government, information technologies, informatics, information society etc. were included, it was seen that the concept of “Smart” was used to explain the functions of some cases. For example; In the National Science and Technology Policies 2003-2023 Strategy Document, the concept of “smart” is processed through components such as smart machines, smart textiles, smart road systems, smart glasses, smart materials (TUBITAK, 2004, pp. 12-22).

In the documents published in 2015 and after, it is seen that there is a conceptually important breaking point. The reports include the concept of “smart city”. Considering the limitations of the study, recent national policy documents addressing the concept of ” smart city” as a whole are included in the scope of the study. Ministry of Development¹ Information Society Strategy Action Plan (2015-2018), Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications² National e-Government Strategy and Action Plan (2016-2019), Eleventh Development Plan (2019-2023) and Ministry of Environment and Urbanization (2020-2023) The National Smart Cities Strategy Action Plan are a few of the recent documents. These documents will be analyzed by comparing the smart city concept, its components, vision and goals. In this way, an overview of the policies followed between 1999 and 2023 will be made and the aspects that are intensely processed, incomplete or not mentioned will be tried to be revealed.

In addition central government, smart city policies and studies are also carried out by local governments. Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has published a strategy document. Ankara, Konya and Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipalities and other local governments have conducted studies on Smart Cities. There are also reports of local government associations (TBB Union of Municipalities of Turkey, MBB Union of Municipalities of Marmara), non-governmental organizations (IT Associations), University Research Centers, TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research of Turkey) and technology companies. This study provides a general review of Turkey's smart city strategy policies from the documents prepared by central government institutions. In future studies, also a review of the documents of local governments and other institutions will contribute to the field.