The Spatial Variation of Rural Settlements in the Urbanization Process: The Case of Denizli City

The rural settlements, located near urban settlements’ centers or in the direction of urban developments, are “potential urban areas” for the master and implementation plans within the boundaries of metropolitan municipalities following the new Law No. 6360. The purpose of the study is to examine the spatial changes which affect distinctly the agricultural lands and rural settlements from the year 2012 which the critical spatial decisions had been applied by local authorities under the influence of the Law No. 6360 known as the “Metropolitan Law”. The settlements are disincorporated and their statuses are changed as “neighborhood”, are chosen as the case areas in Pamukkale and Merkezefendi districts within the boundaries of Denizli Metropolitan city. The method of this study is to analyze comparatively the spatial changes occurred in urban and rural settlements in case areas between the years 2007 – 2017and also to evaluate the results of spatial analysis obtained using GIS techniques. It is quite apparent that these analyses have a critical role to reveal the spatial effects on agricultural lands and rural settlements as the consequences of local applications based on the authorities and responsibilities of metropolitan municipality that are decisive in terms of the spatial and urban development dynamics