Identifying Water and Land Based Recreation Opportunities: Case Study on Southern Sub-Basin of Ankara

Abstract

Water and Land Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (WALROS), stands out as a tool that guides the institutions responsible for recreation planning and management in determining recreation opportunities and making decisions on the sustainability of recreation resources. This study aims to identify WALROS classes of the Southern Sub-Basin of Ankara Province, where the population density and urban sprawl put pressure on the natural and rural resources in the urban fringe and there is a day by day growing demand for recreation use. In this context, the basin is evaluated based on land surveys and the CORINE 2012 land use/land cover features by the expert group of four landscape architects under the WALROS classifications according to physical, social and managerial parameters. In order to identify WALROS classes; data collection, preparing the specified setting parameters for analysis, analysis, classification, weighting and overlay operations have been implemented in ArcGIS10.2. As a result, the basin is determined under the classifications of developed-rural, urban and sub-urban in terms of physical setting parameters. In general, the basin also determined as natural-rural and developed-rural based on social setting features and primitive based on managerial features. After overlaid by weighting of each parameter, semi-primitive class is ranked as the first in terms of areal size, natural-rural class is the second and primitive class ranked as the third in the basin. Consequently, the basin has the potential to respond to different recreation needs and experience demands with different recreation ambient properties and facilities which vary from primitive to urban. For the sustainability of the area's recreation opportunities, primitive, semi-primitive and natural-rural class areas must be protected. Accordingly, limiting visitor intensity in existing recreational areas and instead of urban characterized recreational activities, ecotourism, rural tourism or nature conservation activities need to be encouraged in the South Sub-Basin of Ankara Province.