Using GIS and RS Techniques for the Determination of Green Area Priorities within the Context of SEA

— Man has mostly preferred to live in communes and settle in particular areas to survive. Together with the growth of population and immigration, these settlement areas have developed into cities in time. Depending on the rapid growth in science and technology, the economical, cultural and social structures of the cities and so their physical appearances change continuously. Within this rapid and non-ecological structural change and growth, the necessity of open green areas is usually ignored. In fact, open green areas have significant positive effects on man's psychological renewal, as well as social and cultural development. From this point of view, open green areas are one of the most important spaces in the urban environment that should be considered during the S trategic Environmental Assessment (S EA) process of urban planning. In this study, Geographic Information S ystems (GIS) and Remote S ensing (RS) techniques were used for determining suitable lands for open green areas within S EA process in Eskisehir city centre. In addition, the importance of GIS and RS technologies for handling multi-data sets in EIA and S EA studies are also discussed. As a result, environmental and ecological planning studies are performed by analyzing and overlaying hundreds of different data sources. Therefore; the RS and GIS based methodology described in this manuscript is very useful for environmental and ecological planning studies compared with traditional assessment methodology.