İzmir'in Erken Cumhuriyet Dönemi Planlama Deneyimi (1923–1965): Aru Planı Üzerinden Yol Ağı Morfolojisi ve Fraktal Analiz

Eskiz: Şehir ve Bölge PLanlama Dergisi, cilt.1, sa.1, ss.1-30, 2026 (Hakemli Dergi)

This study re-examines Izmir’s planning experience during the early Republican period

(1923–1965) through the relationship between planning decisions and urban

morphology, with particular focus on the 1955 Kemal Ahmet Aru Plan. The first part

comparatively discusses the 1925 Danger–Prost approach, the 1949 Le Corbusier

proposal, and the 1955 master plan that emerged from the 1952 competition process in

terms of transport structure, industry–housing relations, development directions, and

implementation capacity. The second part compares three road-network states within

the Aru Plan boundary: the existing pattern of the 1950s, the 1955 plan proposal, and

the early realized pattern of the 1970s. For this purpose, the road system was digitized,

fractal dimension was calculated through box-counting, and Local Connected Fractal

Dimension (LCFD) maps were produced. The findings indicate that the Aru Plan did not

reject the existing urban pattern entirely, but rather proposed a more hierarchical and

corridor-based network structure. By 1970, this logic had produced a higher level of

spatial complexity through the interaction between planned guidance and actual urban

growth dynamics. Stronger fractal intensity is concentrated along the historical core,

port, industrial areas, and major development corridors, while peripheral zones display

lower levels of integration and a more fragmented spatial pattern. The study aims to

build a methodological bridge between planning history and urban morphology by

evaluating Izmir’s planning experience not only through institutional and historical

narratives but also through the quantitative analysis of road-network morphology. Since

the analysis is limited to the road-network representation, future studies should

integrate additional morphological components such as parcels, building patterns, and

land use.