Urbanization and Urbanism as a Way of Life: The Case of Konya as a Metropolitan Village in Turkey

Cities and urban has being studied not only by architecture, city planning, but also politics, sociology, economics, and geography; therefore, urban studies is an interdisciplinary area that aims to understand the process of urbanization and cities as characteristics of 20th and 21st centuries. Different fields recognize that urbanization is not only physical process occurring on space, but a social and economic process that affects the social behaviors of people. Higher population density and higher buildings are not only indicators of urbanization, but also there are some other indicators of social behavior that show us urbanization. To being urbanized, scholars are expecting some behavior habits and patterns from the living people. Around the theoretical arguments of social phenomenon of urbanization, the case of Konya will be analyzed. While, Konya is being accepted as metropolitan city including service and industrial sectors and population density, living people in Konya is still having traditional patterns regarding to rural. The study will be strengthened with the researches on social patterns of people living in Konya, conducted by the Konya Metropolitan Municipality. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n8p260