Interaction of Aging Population with Urban Economy: Project Proposal for Bal？kesir [Megaron]

While technology and urbanism design the way of life of today, the concept of “aging” also rises as an important factor in the future of cities. Although Turkey has a young population today, it is in countries that are aging with the prolongation of their life span and the decreasing fertility rate. According to this, the rapidly rising urbanization (65% in 2000, 92% in 2015) and the demographic structure of the change process should be evaluated for the interaction of urban economy. One of the notable strategies of this interaction is the concept of “active aging”. Active aging defines a process by which individuals can actively take part in social, economic and cultural activities throughout the aging process. Thus, active aging individuals can also participate in the activities they desire within their possibilities. The concept of active aging, that is developed by the WHO towards the end of the 1990s, defines the process of maximizing the opportunities for health, security, participation to social and economic life for these people in order to improve quality of life as people age. In this point, small and medium sized cities which are more widely preferred as living place and local economic potentials are emerging as an important tool. In this study, the concepts of aging and active aging are explained in the process of urbanization at first. Subsequently, The demographic characteristics of Turkey and Balikesir Province and a field survey conducted in the central district (Alt？eylül and Karesi settlements) sample is examined. Finally, an evaluation and a system proposal that care about mitigating the effects of the economic aging will be put forward