COASTAL AREAS IN THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION IN TÜRKİYE

Abstract

Coasts are the merging area of land, aquatic, and air ecosystems. Being the merging place of different ecosystems increases the natural environment potential of coastal areas. This situation causes the concentration and diversification of human activities in coastal areas. Türkiye is a country surrounded by seas on three sides, with a total coastline of 8.333 km., where the concept of the coast is of great importance. Coastal areas are the focal points of human and economic activities in our country as such in the world. The main purpose of our research is to reveal the place and importance of coastal areas in the spatial distribution of the population in our country and to examine the population pressure on coastal areas. For this purpose, primarily the population in the coastal provinces was discussed. Then, the distribution of the population in the coastal districts was examined. Coastal areas, which constitute a small part of the country's surface area, are home to a large part of the country's population. This situation increases the usage pressure on coastal areas day by day. The land use forms on the coasts have come to conflict with each other over time. This situation has brought along natural resource losses and many problems in coastal areas. The overpopulation of coastal areas lies at the root of many problems that arise in the coastal areas. In this context, revealing the current situation in our country constitutes the starting point of our research. In our research, data was collected from the Turkish Statistical Institute. ArcMap 10.3 software is used to create the database and data structure.