Assessment of the Relationship Between City and Port in Mersin, Turkey

It is important to understand the characteristics of a 21st century port city in terms of the spatial relations of the city and its port. In this study, the port/city relations between the container port of Mersin in Turkey and Mersin city itself are examined. The purpose of this study is to examine which class of port city Mersin falls within and how spatial relations are established at the intersection of the port and urban area in Mersin. The Relative Concentration Index is used for evaluation at the regional scale, as used in port city classifications. The method reveals the importance of port and urban relations at a regional level in the urbanization processes of coastal cities. It is seen that Mersin Port has been at the level of a Hub since 2007 among the container ports of Turkey. ‘Hub’ is among the port city classes for which spatial planning policies in the port/city intersection area should be emphasized. It is important to integrate the revival projects with planning strategies and policies to engender a ‘living urban port area’ image for the transition zone between city and port.