Ankara commuter line as the product and witness of modern planning experience in Turkey

Abstract

Evolution of commuter rail transit systems has always served a tight relationship with the development of urban planning theory and practice. Commuter rail development in Ankara has a peculiar history begun with the pronunciation of Ankara as the capital city of the new regime in 1923, as opposed to its numerous contemporaries which had emerged as the lasting effects of Industrial Revolution on cities. In the earlier plans representing the culturalist school of spatial organization, Ankara commuter line was recognized as a planning tool in the designation of the rural-urban continuum, urban green network, community spaces and logistic centers. The commuter line together with adjoined uses, today, might be a remarkable case in the broad identification of the railway heritage assets as well as the complementary relationship between urban morphology and history. Besides being a mass transport service covering approximately 37 km distance, the line provides planning opportunities in consolidating the fragmented historic properties (historic villages, landed estates, industrial areas etc.) of the Republican period plans and discovering the spatial interactions generated by the railway lines. In this respect, the aim of this study is to reveal the significance of Ankara Commuter Line as a city planning legacy by mapping its earlier development and accompanied built and landscape heritages.