ACCORDING TO METHOD OF GÜLEZ DETERMINATION OF RECREATIONAL POTENTIAL OF NIĞDE ATATÜRK CITY FOREST

In cities that have grown rapidly due to population increase in recent years, the desire for green areas has been increasing with the effect of concrete buildings. Nowadays, it is inevitable that the natural environment, which is damaged by the effects of human beings, is rapidly destroyed. In addition, the global warming-related climate change problem, which is particularly affecting t arid regions, is also present. In this direction, in the city of Niğde, one of the arid cities of Turkey, efforts have been made to regain the green and natural areas. At the same time, a city forest was established in 2005, in order to increase the quality of life of the people living here, to provide aesthetic, health, psychological, ecological and economical contributions and to solve the problems caused by climate change. This facility has become an important recreational area for local people living in Niğde who do not have many alternatives. In this study, the present potential of Atatürk City Forest in Niğde province was examined by measuring recreational characteristics of urban forests. For this purpose, a questionnaire was applied to the forest users according to the method of Gülez for determining the potential of in-forest recreation. The data obtained from the questionnaire were evaluated with the SPSS 24.0 package program. The results depict the status of the city forest in terms of potential for recreation and what are the most important factors affecting this potential. Finally, various suggestions were made in order to determine the negative factors in the area and to guide the local policymakers.