INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND WORLD ECOLOGY, vol.17, no.6, pp.515-528, 2010 (SCI-Expanded)
The article describes different steps and methodologies to create an alternative greenway with recreational, scenic, historical and cultural values in Hamsikoy-Zigana, part of Trabzon-Gumushane former state highway. As a first step, inventory studies and analyses were carried out to determine the cultural and natural values of the area. As the second step, area analyses studies were carried out. Depending on results of expert-based visual assessment and suitability analyses for determining the suitability of greenway planning in the study area; recreational, scenic, historical-cultural and multifunctional status of the greenway having all these three functions at the same time were mapped using suitability rank in GIS and the plan square technique. As a result, the plan squares having high suitability for the above functions were dense in the determined study, in terms of old highway and neighbourhood. In the whole area (4385.25ha), 598.00ha were ranked as good (A), 770.27ha as medium (B) and 3016.98ha as poor (C), in terms of suitability value. Seasonal assessments for recreation and scenery functions of A, B and C indicate that the area has opportunities for all seasons. As a third step, the results are discussed and some proposals suggested.