INSTITUTIONEN FÖR GEOVETENSKAPER

Examensarbete i Hållbar Utveckling 36

Sustainable Community Development

Ideas on Implementing Social and Economic Applications from Hagaby, Sweden in the

The Kerkenes Eco-Center in Yozgat, Turkey

Derya Eryilmaz

SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY

DEVELOPMENT

Ideas on Implementing Social and

Economic Applications from Hagaby,

Sweden in the The Kerkenes Eco-

Center in Yozgat, Turkey

Master of Science in Sustainable DevelopmentUppsala University and Swedish University of Agriculture

Derya Eryilmaz

Preface:

! Master in Sustainable Development in Sweden provided me abroad insight of sustainability at local, national and international level. Taking the course Interdisciplinary Methods during my studies was a golden opportunity to visit Hagaby and understand the sustainability in community level. My interest

on developing a master thesis related to Hagaby was influenced by the course as well as the additional visits to Hagaby in the meantime. During my research to develop a master thesis topic for a degree, I met the project coordinator of Kerkenes-Eco-Center by chance and decided to introduce sustainable community development in Turkey into an existing environmental center in a village called Sahmuratli. After my visit to Kerkenes-Eco-Center in Sahmuratli, I realized that the eco-center has the

environmental achievements; however, lacking of social and economic integration in terms of sustainable development. Moreover, Hagaby is the successful case to be taken as a sample and I decided to develop this master thesis. I literally started this study in 2010.06.01 and completed in 2010.08.30.

Acknowledgements:

" I owe my deepest gratitudes to my supervisor Professor Per Berg from Department of Landscape Architecture at SLU, Sweden for his encouragement to write my thesis on this subject. His experience

at Hagaby enabled me with having the necessary insight and developing my thesis. I am also thankful to Francoise Summers who is the coordinator of the Kerkenes-Eco-Center project in Yozgat due to her provision of the essential and necessary data and information about the Eco-Center as well as the Şahmuratlı Village during writing my thesis project. SAH-DER Association was very helpful for collecting the data for the surveys and the SAH-DER workers were very supportive for explaining the

current situation in the village and Eco-Center with accepting to participate in the interviews. It is also a pleasure to thank Inci and Ali Gokmen for introducing their eco-village which is a very successful sample for my study as well as the other sustainable community development studies. I am also heartily thankful to Sila Akcay who was my colleague during my undergraduate degree for contributing her knowledge on the statistics during my survey analysis. And ultimately, the visuality of this thesis

wouldn’t be effective and attractive enough unless Jorge Uyenahara who is my colleague on MSc Sustainable Development at Uppsala University would take the pictures.

SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT:

Ideas on Implementing Social and Economic

Applications from Hagaby, Sweden in the

Kerkenes Eco-Center in Yozgat, Turkey

Author: Derya EryilmazSupervisor: Professor Per S. Berg, Department of Landscape Architecture, SLUKey Words: Sustainable community development, Hagaby, Kerkenes Eco-Center, eco-village, social and economic dimensions of sustainability

This is a master’s thesis within the Master of Sustainable Development program between Uppsala University (UU) and the Swedish University of Agriculture (SLU).

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ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study is to develop a sustainable community in a village called Sahmuratli in Yozgat, Turkey based on the remarkable case of a Swedish eco-village called Hagaby. The Kerkenes Eco-Center in Sahmuratli village provides the essential baseline for the village to convert it into a sustainable community in terms of social and economic dimensions of sustainability. Survey and interview methods were used to collect information about the Eco-Center. The overall outcome of the study is that the the Kerkenes Eco-Center can become a significant initiative to promote sustainable community development in terms of promoting economic welfare and increasing social relationships among the village community through various practices influenced by Hagaby in Uppsala, Sweden.

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Preface

" The Master in Sustainable Development program in Sweden provided me with broad insights about sustainability at the local, national and international levels. Taking the course Interdisciplinary Methods during my studies was an ideal opportunity to visit Hagaby, Sweden and understand

sustainability at the community level. My interest in developing a master’s thesis related to Hagaby was influenced by the course as well as additional visits to Hagaby. During my research to develop a master’s thesis topic, I met the project coordinator of the Kerkenes Eco-Center by chance and decided to introduce him to sustainable community development in Turkey in an existing environmental center in a village called Sahmuratli. After my visit to the Kerkenes Eco-Center in Sahmuratli, I realized that

the existing Eco-Center in Sahmuratli had achieved some environmental success; however, it lacked social and economic integration in terms of sustainable development. Moreover, it was clear that Hagaby was a successful case to be taken as a sample, for this master’s thesis. I started this study in June 2010 and completed the field work in August 2010.

Acknowledgements

" I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Professor Per Berg from the Department of

Landscape Architecture at SLU, Sweden for his encouragement to write my thesis. His experience at Hagaby enabled me to gain the necessary insights and develop my thesis. I am also thankful to Francoise Summers who is the coordinator of the Kerkenes-Eco-Center project in Yozgat due to her provision of the essential and necessary data and information about the Eco-Center as well as Şahmuratlı village while writing my thesis project. SAH-DER Association was very helpful for

collecting the data for the surveys, and the SAH-DER workers were very supportive by explaining the current situation in the village and Eco-Center and by agreeing to participate in the interviews. It is also a pleasure to thank Inci and Ali Gokmen for introducing me to their eco-village which is a very successful sample for my study as well as the other sustainable community development studies. I am also heartily thankful to Sila Akcay who was my colleague during my undergraduate degree for

contributing her statistical knowledge during my survey analysis. Ultimately, the visuality of this thesis would not be so effective nor attractive unless Jorge Uyenahara, my colleague in the MSc Sustainable Development program at Uppsala University, had taken the pictures.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

.............................................................................................Introduction 6

..................................................................................................Objective 9

....................................................................................Aim of the Study 10

...............................................................................Research Questions 10

............................................................................................Background 11

.......................................................Hagaby- an ecological village in Uppsala, Sweden 11

...............................Şahmuratlı Village and Kerkenes Eco-Center in Yozgat, Turkey 13

.......................................................................Political Situation in Şahmuratlı Village 16

...............................................................Boundaries and Assumptions 17

....................................................................................................Theory 18

...........................................................................Sustainable Community Development 19

.....................................................................................Economics and Social Relations 20

.........................................................................................................Regional Economies 20

......................................................................Link between Poverty and Sustainability 21

....................................................................................Marketing of the Local Products 22

..........................................................................................Methodology 24

......................................................................UN Habitat Agenda: PEBOSCA Analysis 25

.........................................................................................................Literature Research 27

........................................................................................................................Study Trips 27

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................................................................................................................................Survey 27

..........................................................................................................................Interviews 31

.....................Proposal to Improve Social and Economic Conditions 33

........................................................................1. Restoration of the Old Primary School 34

....................................2. Development of Marketing Strategies for the Local Products 38

.........................3. Development of Transportation: Car-sharing and Public Transport 46

........................................4. Organization of Tourist-Attracting Activities: Eco-tourism 50

5. Improving the Waste Management System in the Village: Composting and Basic ...........................................................................................................................Recycling 58

...................................................................Discussion and Conclusion 65

...................................................................Strengths and Weaknesses 68

..........................................................................................Bibliography 69

.............................................................................................Appendices 74

........................................PEBOSCA Analysis for Kerkenes Eco-Center and Hagaby 74

..............Kerkenes Eco-Center Brochures, Posters and Kerkenes Products Cooking 75

..............................................................................................Survey questions and Data 79

......................................................List of Kerkenes Products: (Price in SEK and TL) 83

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IntroductionGlobalization has influenced most countries since the early 1990s with mass production, over-consumption, and international trade. Countries have focused on economic growth and competing with each other while producing, selling, and consuming their products. Jennifer Elliot in her Introduction to Sustainable Development (2002) wrote:

The first United Nations Development Decade of the 1960s development thinking prioritized economic growth and the application of modern scientific and technical knowledge as the route to prosperity in the underdeveloped world at that time. It was a period characterized by optimism and global co-operation, within which it was assumed that many development problems of the underdeveloped world would be solved quickly through the transfer of finance, technology and experience from the developed countries (p. 10).

When the global financial crisis first hit in the US in February 2008 and later spread to the rest of the world economy, it was obvious that all developing and developed countries had become interconnected through a globalized economy. The flow of goods and services had already reached a peak and most economic matters were being discussed on an international level. Economic growth was one of the most significant indicators for categorizing countries as developed or developing, and development was synonymous with economic growth. However, in 1987, in the World Commission on Environment and Development Report, the concept of sustainable development was first brought up and defined as: “a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Rogers, Jalal and Boyd 2008).

After long discussions on sustainable development, economic growth has risen to another level to include worldwide environmental and social problems. Thus, as Mark Roseland mentioned, the “economic growth with an ecological deficit is anti-economic, and makes us poorer rather than richer in the long term” (Roseland 2005). More attention has been given to three fundamental dimensions of sustainable development: i) environmental, ii) economic, and iii) social. The balance between these three dimensions has become particularly important. The economic dimension takes quantitative indicators such as GDP/GNP into account in order to compare the welfare of societies. By contrast, the environmental dimension focuses on maintaining natural and biological processes and protection of the sustainable utilization of the species (Rogers, Jalal and Boyd 2008). Lastly, the social dimension addresses the living conditions and social welfare of societies to ensure that the primary needs of people are being met. Another issue of sustainability is that there has been very fast population growth in the last decades; therefore, unemployment and poverty have become one of the most significant threats

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of the current century. Thus, people have started to migrate from rural to urban areas with a hope of finding jobs and a better life. Where urbanization is rising, dense populations cause city disorder, pollution, housing problems, and economic disparity. Accordingly, shifting to sustainable community building is taking place with the idea of “thinking globally but acting locally” (Roseland 2005). The most important purpose is to improve the quality of life in these urban communities in terms of their economical welfare, environmental protection and social integration. Self-productive and sufficient communities can contribute to sustainable development through networking and collaboration, which are essential components for achieving the economic goals of a community.

Turkey, usually assumed to be a developing country, has also encountered the issue of “from rural to urban migration” since industrialization began. The population in many cities has increased rapidly with a shift to urbanization, so cities have become problematic and chaotic places. While this urbanization has introduced significant problems in the cities, rural areas have been left without sufficient resources, so small villages and towns suffer due to undeveloped living conditions. However, rural areas mostly have natural resources, which can create sustainable human habitats where people and the land can benefit naturally, socially, and economically.

For example, Şahmuratlı is a village in Turkey located in a suburb of a city called Yozgat (see Map 1) The population in the village has decreased through migration, and currently there are around 55 families trying to continue their lives through basic economic activities such as cultivating. In 2002, an ecological center was established by academic professionals from the Middle East Technical University of Turkey in order to create a place for environmental demonstrations and to bring economic benefits to the village residents by providing jobs.

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Map-1: Kerkenes Eco-Center: Location. Resource: Kerkenes Eco-Center 2003,http://kerkenes.metu.edu.tr/keco/01intro/location/location.html

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Objective This thesis project focuses on proposing a program to create a sustainable community by applying an ecologic village case in Uppsala, Sweden to an already established ecological center in Şahmuratli village. Kerkenes Eco-Center in Yozgat, Turkey was chosen because there have already been many environmental efforts and demonstrations in this area. In addition, an NGO, academicians, university students and villagers have been involved in this Eco-Center both directly and indirectly to support the potential transformation of the Eco-Center into an ecological community in terms of the importance of participation of the community. Community participation refers to “a process through, which stakeholders can influence and share control over development initiatives and the resources used to fund them through engagement in decision making” (Rogers Jalal and Boyd 2008).

The Kerkenes Eco-Center has also been operating as a research center under the Middle East Technical University in Ankara but the main idea was not to build a sustainable community in the village even though the Eco-Center has been experimenting with the environmental facilities which also involve the villagers in the project. Therefore, there is an essential need to build a bridge between the Eco-Center and the residents of the village to include the social aspects of sustainability. Furthermore, the fundamental aim of this study is to raise the issue how the welfare of the residents of Şahmuratlı village could possibly be increased, which also supports the essential economic and social aspects of the Eco-Center in terms of sustainable community development.

In addition to the detailed research during this project, the surveys, interviews and discussions with participants were very useful to propose an efficient program both for the Kerkenes Eco-Center and Şahmuratlı village. Most of the efforts were to create a valuable and realistic program which can be successfully applied to revive the rural population in the village while taking sustainable community development into account. At the same time, the theoretical framework aims to provide the necessary insights for the implementation of such a case study. The focus is the social and economic aspects of sustainability considering the PEBOSCA Analysis from the UN HABITAT Agenda.

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Aim of the StudyThe aim of this thesis was to analyze the significant concepts of an existing ecological village called Hagaby in Uppsala, Sweden, and to propose different programs for implementing an ecological village in Sahmuratli in Yozgat, Turkey. In particular, this thesis considers the social and economic aspects of PEBOSCA Analysis from the UN HABITAT Agenda. In addition, the crucial issue in this study is to examine Hagaby as a case study, and to discuss how economic and social aspects can be developed in the case of Sahmuratli, which has its own unique, specific properties and dynamics.

The objective of the proposed program is to increase environmental awareness in the local community of the village while improving the economic welfare of the residents of this community by helping them comprehend a community perception. Additionally, communication among the residents about natural issues through the Kerkenes Eco-Center will increase with the implementation of this program.

Research QuestionsConsidering the aim of this study, this study focuses on the following questions and proposes programs for both the the Kerkenes Eco-Center and Sahmuratli village:

1. Could economic welfare of a lower income community in Turkey be improved by increasing environmental and social consciousness?

2. Taking Hagaby as a remarkable case into account, what are the social and economic benefits

of the similar applications into Kerkenes Eco-Center on the community in Sahmuratli village in Turkey?

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BackgroundThis case study aspires to propose the implementation of the social and economic aspects of an ecological village, Hagaby, in a specific village called Sahmuratli in Yozgat, Turkey. The background of this case study provides knowledge about Hagaby in the Uppsala area, and the area where this thesis case study will be implemented which is Şahmuratlı village, Yozgat, Turkey. Under the UN HABITAT Agenda framework, the background of these two places is presented with their special and local properties. Political situation in the village is also summarized in order to state the different understandings about the Eco-Center in Sahmuratli village.

Hagaby- an ecological village in Uppsala, Sweden

Hagaby, which was established for mentally disabled children in the early 20th century, was later developed into a farming community. However, in the late 1990s, the region was transformed into a site with environmental friendly houses built by the municipal residential company Uppsalahem. The main idea of establishing such a village was to promote the significance of the community in our globalized and materialized lifestyles. Moreover, residents were invited to participate in reducing natural resource depletion by supporting the importance of community living (Berg 2000).

Hagaby has been considered a “sustainable community” in terms of the seven aspects of sustainable development in PEBOSCA: Physical, Economical, Biological, Organizational, Social, Cultural and Aesthetic. These aspects were first introduced by the UN HABITAT Agenda in 2000. The fundamental goals of implementing Hagaby were to create a consistent balance between the local and distant production and distribution to the community to achieve self-sufficiency and energy efficiency. In addition, one of the other main goals of Hagaby is to preserve the cultural treasury of the community while promoting flexibility for adaptation to the realities of the world (Berg 2002).

In Hagaby, most of the physical resources such as electricity, heat or water have been provided by the municipality of the city, which is not in the boundaries of the community. In fact, local production of the energy and natural resources has been managed efficiently by introducing essential technology and increasing awareness of the local community. For example, local heat distribution in Hagaby is low (10-15%) because it is produced by solar collectors, while the city distribution is about 85-90%. Thus, heat energy savings is around 50% for all 100 new and old apartments in Hagaby (Berg 2002). Supporting different means of transportation such as car sharing, cycling and public transportation by municipality of Uppsala are also efficient and environmentally and economically friendly (Berg 2002). Local food production and local market also benefit the local economy and are healthy for the community residents.

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The local community is made up of residents from a certain region where they can transfer their knowledge, customs, language, and rituals to the future generations efficiently. Therefore, Hagaby has a great influence on the community residents with its local and municipal schools, common places for cultural reproduction in terms of education, sharing common places, participation in common activities and communication. Mail boxes, for instance, are located together in order to increase communication among the residents. Another illustration of this unified community is the Hagaby Centrum, a place where the local community can come together every week and participate in several activities such as concerts, meetings and brunches.

Picture 1: View of Hagaby Centrum entrance by Jorge Ueyonahara

As for the demographic structure of the community of Hagaby, there are 350 residents living in the village where one-third of the community is under 16 years old. Around 4% of the community is older than 60 and international students make up 2% of the population. Mixed Swedish and immigrant families are around 7% (Berg 2002). According to the personal observations of Professor Per G. Bergs, a landscape architect as well as one of the residents in Hagaby, economic welfare distribution of the community is rather balanced. In addition, Hagaby residents have similar interests and environmental awareness levels, which are essential for the continuation of community life and for the support of neighborhood collaboration.

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According to these statistics, Hagaby is a good example of the achievements of sustainable community establishment and the remarkable application of the UN HABITAT Agenda. Development of new technologies to support efficiency of physical resources and natural preservation has improved the community. Moreover, relations between residents are strengthening while the local economy is improving. Hagaby’s success has depended on balancing both local and distant life, which promotes this sustainable modern community. Berg (2002) summarizes the identity of the village as follows:

The historical resources are gradually being revealed to Hagaby’s inhabitants and also to its visitors which it is believed will strengthen the identity and decrease the low turn-over rate even further. The local identity must, however, always achieve a balance with modern city life and the outside world (page 56).

Şahmuratlı Village and Kerkenes Eco-Center in Yozgat, Turkey

The Kerkenes project was initiated in 1993 as an archeological investigation in the capital of Iron Age just below Kerkenes Mountain, and now overlooks the village of Şahmuratlı. It is located in the central part of Turkey on the northern edge of the Cappadocia Plain. The start of this project in the region created a positive impact in the village particularly on the culture, society and economy. However, the Kerkenes Eco-Center project literally started with the “Direct Aid Program” by the Australian Embassy, which provided the funding in 2002. The idea behind the implementation of the project was to prevent migration from rural areas to urban areas due to the economic, social and physical conditions.

The ultimate goal of the project was to achieve sustainability in terms of increasing the quality of life in the village through environmental facilities. Another funding opportunity, “Canadian Funds” was provided by the Canadian Embassy in 2004. These funds were spent on building a straw bale house and a green house in the village. The residents of the village, some students who were interested, and participants from other countries worked together during the establishment of these facilities. Moreover, Bora Topluoğlu, who lives in Australia and is a Turkish specialist on building straw bale houses, was the head of the construction in the village. Other initiatives also began including separating the solid waste for composting and recycling as well as recovering used water from houses to irrigate gardens for organic agriculture.

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Picture 2: View of the Kerkenes-Eco-Center by Kerkenes Office Library

Other funding opportunities included “The British Council, which supported studies on the environmental performance of buildings under the Britain-Turkey Partnerships Program between the METU Department of Agriculture and the Environment and Energy Studies Program of the Architectural Association, London” (Kerkenes 2004). Burdens Charitable Foundation donated A Parry Brick Press, and finally, MESA, AKG, and Mr Erdoğan Akdağ organizations also helped the Yozgat Governorate, Rural Services and Municipality of Sorgun support the Kerkenes Eco-Center project (Kerkenes News 2004).

The first activities of the project were “coring for paper, installation of pump and simple irrigation system, reuse of grey water in the garden, separation of waste for recycling and composting, use of solar energy for water heating, purchase of mud-brick press for improved and stabilized mud-bricks, production of alternative building materials such as straw bales.” (The Kerkenes Eco-Center Report 2002). These activities started in 2003, and improved step by step while evaluating the results and the impacts every year since the beginning of the project. However, most of the activities in the Eco-Center have been dependent on financial grants or donations.

A villager’s association called “Benevolent and Supportive Association for the Improvement and Promotion of Şahmuratlı village (Kerkenes-SAH-DER)” was also established. There has been

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collaboration with the association to improve public relations, collective work, and support, which has been a remarkable step to support the villagers’ living conditions. The association even created a web page to introduce the village internationally which, in turn, helped the villagers becomes more aware of the activities taking place in their village.

SAH-DER provided jobs and payments to the workers in the Eco-Center. The first years of the project primarily involved digging houses and the office for the archeology team. Later, they built the SAH-DER Association building, a sharing place and the cooking house in order to follow the applications according to the project plan. The guest rooms-dorms for the researchers and museum for the pieces from the archeology team were built. Recently, a drip irrigation system and a system for producing dried vegetables and fruits have been developed. The products are generally sold to the visitors in the fairs in the Middle East Technical University where another Kerkenes office is located and fairs in the Kerkenes Eco-Center.

Picture 3: Wall increase and roof isolation with empty CDs, bottles and cans from Kerkenes Office Photo Archive.

In 2006, another successful project started to promote renewable energy usage with the financial support of UNDP-GEF: Small Grant Program. This project was an initiative for the Eco-Center to generate income for their environmental activities. Production of special and indigenous Kerkenes Ecological Products using solar cooking was an additional outcome for the sustainable consumption and renewable energy support (Summers, and Branting 2006). In the following year, the solar house was completed with the participation of architecture students of design. Many experiments and measurements have shown that heating the solar house is very efficient compared to the newer structures in the region (Ozkan-Elias and Summers 2007). Additionally,

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as a result of its success in the solar cooking project in the previous years, a new project was initiated to improve the “Solar Power Structures and Branding Infrastructure in Sorgun” including new designs for solar cookers and driers (Korkusuz and Summers 2009).

Students from Middle East Technical University and archeology students also participated in building the environmentally efficient buildings. It was a very successful start to spread the idea of an ecological center in Sahmuratlı village. Remarkable outcomes of the first facilities included irrigation and reuse of a grey water system which successfully produced planted vegetables. Recycled bottles were also used for the construction of the protection walls, and solar heaters were effectively used in the bathroom buildings of the Eco-Center.

Around 55 families currently live in Şahmuratlı village in Yozgat, and many other families have already moved from Surgeon into a larger county close to the village, and to other big cities or countries due to the unemployment and economic issues in the cities. In Şahmuratlı, the climate is mostly suitable for grain farming including barley, grain and wheat. Once harvested, the grain is brought to the open market to be sold. At the same time, the Kerkenes Eco-Center provides temporary jobs especially for women such as drying and cooking vegetables including onions and mushrooms in the special ovens and solar cookers for the special visitors to the center. The geographical location of the Eco-Center in the village is also a great opportunity for residents to work. Nevertheless, since there is no permanent salary, residents are not as willing to work as in the first years of the project. In addition, the population has decreased, and essential public places for development were closed including the primary school in the middle of the village. Thus, elementary and middle school children had to enroll in another school in the town of Sorgun which is 12 km from the village, and transportation is very tough during winter due to the extreme cold and snow.

Political Situation in Şahmuratlı Village

The local community has different ideas about the Eco-Center, and it is useful to explain the political situation in the village in detail.

SAH-DER is the institution that finds the workers for the on-going projects and activities in the Eco-Center. The legal and bureaucratic procedures have also been administered by the SAH-DER Association. Elections for the headman of the association are organized through a voting system in the local community, which is a local political issue in the village. The previous headman of the village who was at the same time the headman of the association mentioned that in the beginning, the local community in the village was very interested and willing to do something for the Eco-Center project. Their attitude was very positive due to the fact that the Eco-Center was to be the place for earning money. However, when the grants for the Eco-Center

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became a stressful issue for the project, the opportunity for Eco-Center jobs decreased, and the local community started to lose hope for income activities. He also claimed that the lack of job opportunities was the main reason he was not re-elected.

The accountant of the association also noted that the Kerkenes Eco-Center was very attractive when it started in 2002, but he is now disappointed about applications, which are insufficient. He indicated that there are many other necessities of the village such as reconstruction of the primary school. Moreover, he believes that the applications and the demonstrations in the Eco-Center have not been practical for the community as a whole.

Francoise Summers, who is the coordinator of the Kerkenes Eco-Center project, stated that the main issue of the project was that there have been insufficient financial resources to develop more demonstrations both in the village and in the Eco-Center. She believes that in order to achieve sustainable rural development in Sahmuratli, participation and contributions of the local community should be long lasting. In addition, the registration and license decrease of the Eco- Center is due to the efficiency of the applications. Consequently, Summers indicated that due to the financial deficiencies and the lack of technical support, political conflict has arisen in the village towards the Eco-Center. Furthermore, she finds this situation has created a drawback for the project, which, in turn, has an impact on the villagers’ contribution,s and opinions about the Eco-Center.

Recently, grant opportunities for the Kerkenes Eco-Center have also created a problem. A sustainable Eco-Center which is integrated into the local community should not rely on outside grants. There should be feedback wherein the community itself with the Eco-Center generates sustainable community activities for itself. Therefore, projects and facilities for the village or the Eco-Center should be sustainable in the long term.

Boundaries and AssumptionsThis thesis concentrates on the social and economic dimensions of implementing an ecological village in Şahmuratli, Turkey, but there are many other dimensions that have to be analyzed when it comes to sustainable development. However, as the main goal of this project is to integrate the local community into the Kerkenes Eco-Center and to increase the welfare of the society in the village by generating income from activities of the Eco-Center, only an economic and social theoretical framework was analyzed. In addition, t h e assumption is t h a t t h e r e i s already an Eco-Center established so basic environmental applications have been provided to this study.

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Another limitation is that only some of the facilities and activities of Hagaby village, which can foster the economic and social development in Şahmuratlı village, were considered or applied. Therefore, this thesis project is not an application of the whole Swedish case of Hagaby, but considered only took the applicable facilities into account by preparing a proposal for Şahmuratlı village, as well as for the Kerkenes Eco-Center.

Picture 4: A view from Hagaby by Jorge Ueyonahara

TheoryIn this part of the study, the theoretical framework related to the proposed programs are given. The proposed programs for the Kerkenes Eco-Center in the following section are based on these theories and aims to meet the main purpose of this study. Initially, a theory of Sustainable Community is given to explain the concept of a sustainable community and its dimensions. A link between economics and relations have been used to formulate the combination of the local community and the Eco-Center to generate an eco-village with its social, economic and environmental aspects for sustainability. As the focus of this thesis project, a regional economies theory is presented with the purpose of improving the local production and the main reasons for

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migration. Subsequently, a growth-poverty theory is to explain the basic economics thinking behind sustainable development. Finally, a marketing theory is presented to explain the system for selling the local products and generating an income activity for the Şahmuratlı village.

Sustainable Community Development

In the definition of sustainable community development, community capital is the key element, which consists of natural, physical, economic, human, social and cultural capital (Roseland 2005). Natural capital can be described as any natural resources, which produce the essential materials for current and future generations. Physical capital is the processed resources which help to increase the standards of living such as schools and hospitals. Economic capital is an issue of allocating the resources in an efficient way, which can optimize the usage of these resources for the current and future generations. Human capital is the accumulation of human knowledge, experience and abilities. Social capital, which is “the relationships, networks and norms that facilitate collective action” (Roseland 2005) has been the most important capital in developing sustainable communities due to its “community glue” function that links the society together. Social capital gives the community the power to make the community to react, act and resist external factors.

Development of a community towards sustainability is highly dependent on the development of social capital as well. It differs from other capital in terms of being non-materialized and non-limited by the resources. Therefore, it yields sustainability and takes a longer time to develop, improve and transfer it (Roseland 2005). Cultural capital is produced through the participation of the society in similar traditions, conventions and a common history. Thus, social capital and cultural capital are interrelated indicating a high possibility that cultural capital can influence social capital. At the same time, multiplying social capital is very significant to develop sustainable communities by the organization of society in terms of creating communication among the local community as well as with the outside community (Roseland 2005).

Development of sustainable communities requires these types of capitals to be discovered and to be established, but considering only one or two of these types of capitals are insufficient for developing sustainable communities. For example, to develop a sustainable community, depletion of natural resources should not be the only concern. Equity in allocation of the resources among the community, equal access to transportation, education and health institutions or the participation in the cultural rituals and ceremonies should be taken into consideration as well to develop a healthy, protective and productive community.

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Economics and Social Relations

Traditional economic theories including Neo-classic theory generally focuses on the competitive markets where exchange of goods and services is without involvement of issues of the society into the process. Furthermore, individuals are the agents who take part in production and consumption processes. However, according to green economics, there should be social relations integrated to the economics due to economics is dealing with the social issues. Therefore, the proposition of the green economists is to decrease trade and particularly to promote the revival of the local economies (Cast 2009). The relationship of the people should be in the first place and then trade or monetary issues should follow. Green economy is not against trade or global activities; in fact, it promotes cultural, social and aesthetic exchange of the relationships in the society. This will bring success to the economy and any other activities in, which people are involved such as agriculture. Wendell Berry from the lectures of E. F. Schumacher, explains the significance of the existence of the community for efficient agriculture. “For good farming to last, it must occur in a good farming community-that is, a neighborhood of people who know each other, who understand their mutual dependences, and who place a proper value on good farming (Schumacher 1995).

Regional Economies

A region has been described as a specified area where the exchange of goods, services and people are in their own dynamism. A successful economy of a region relies on the resources and the treasures of that specified region itself. Jane Jacobs, who is one of the most remarkable academicians on regional economics stated that the rationale of efficient production is “from local resources for local needs” (Schumacher 1995). She defines five forces, which shape and reshape the economy of regions. These are: i) “the power of city markets, ii) the power of city jobs, iii) the power of city technology, iv) the power of city transplanted out of cities and v) the power of city capital” (Schumacher 1995).

According to her article, the main reason for these five forces is “import replacing” activities, which increase the attraction to the city. Import replacement causes expansion of the markets within the city; then it provides the opportunity of more city jobs; at the same time, it develops the technology and diversifies the investments and entrepreneurship. In the end, it increases the volume of the city capital. Although Jacobs is supportive of urban life, she promotes regional development where development in rural areas is vital and these five forces are applicable for the rural areas as well. Jacobs’s theory can be analyzed the other way around as well looking at the rural region aspect instead of the city region.

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It is very essential that development of a local community in a rural region will allow the region to resist external factors in terms of economic, environmental and social facts. Sustainable community development will strengthen the economy of the region by helping it adjust its common community conditions to the current circumstances. In this manner, sustainable community development will provide the community with self-reliance through collaborative action (Roseland 2005). Local self-reliance is the key to shift from “import replacing economies” to become self-sufficient and productive regional economies, which is essential for the development of a region (Roseland 2005). A community which is aware of its potential for regional resources and generates its production through understanding the impacts of the economic activities to the environment and social relations will foster local production and the local economy (Roseland 2005).

Link between Poverty and Sustainability

Poverty is one of the fundamental challenges in sustainable development because it causes environmental damage and resource depletion. People’s concern of not being able to access their primary needs shifts the priorities to concentrate on increasing economical welfare. Development itself is another challenge of sustainability since environmental degradation and depletion of natural resources are a consequence of development and progress. As a result, Rogers, Jalal and Toyd (2008) described two vicious cycles, poverty and sustainable development, which are described as drawbacks for achieving sustainable development (see Figure 1),. These cycles, however, should be broken down individually and then integrated into each other in order to be developing in a sustainable way. Poverty should be prevented by solving the prior problems of the societies such as alimentation, sheltering, health, hygiene and education. Governments as well as the local institutions should focus on implementing efficient policies, which take the environmental and social development into account rather than considering solely the economic development (Rogers, Jalal and Boyd 2008).

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Figure-1: (Rogers, Jalal and Boyd 2008): Two vicious cycles of poverty and sustainable development

Marketing of the Local Products

Globalization was the initiative to establish large and international cooperation between countries and institutions. When villagers envisioned their contributions to sustainability, there was considerable discussion and doubt about corporations’ environmental and social awareness (Cato 2009). Conversely, it has been considered that local production takes care of the environment as well as social integration. The size and scope of the production have an impact on the producers’ responsibilities (Cato 2009). In other words, local producers are the owners of their products which differs from interoffice workers who limit their responsibility to working hours. Therefore, development of local markets will prevent mass production which depletes the environment and increase the consumption of fresh and healthy food consumption with increasing the environmental awareness.

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The Scottish Agricultural College (2007) Food Marketing suggested the factors for being a successful local product market:1. Quality of the product: Products should have originality by having the properties of being “local, welfare friendly, natural ingredients, traditional methods, good appearance, good taste and freshness”.2. The quality of the raw materials: Raw materials of the products should be fresh, healthy and trustable.3. Communication: Direct contact with the customers and the local community.4. Appearance of the products: Informative packaging and labels.5. Support and participation: Producers and the community should be supportive.6. Demand of the local community for the production: Pricing and loyalty.7. Planning for management and finances.8. Production efficiency.9. External support: Sponsors or other financial networks, if possible.

Two methods for selling local products are described as follows:

i. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

CSA is a system of membership for the farmers in a village who can come together, and share the local market in order to increase the farmers’ production and their incomes by organizing the cultivation and marketing of the products. Producers in the beginning of the season pay specified fees according to their accepted shares in the production as well as the risks of the production of that season. The institution, which runs the CSA in the village, determines a place where the consumers get their weekly or monthly products. Agriculture production can be widened to other local products as well such as herbs, honey, and eggs (Ivanko and Kivirist 2004).

ii. Farmers’ Market

Farmers’ markets provide fresh, organic and healthy products from farms and villages. It allows people to access fresh food and often educates people about the drawbacks of commercial products. Farmers’ markets also allows the producers to be in touch with their consumers and friends. It is not necessary to have much advertising, packaging or marketing operations like large corporations. Furthermore, a high level of developed technology and cultivation practices are not required to produce local products, which decreases the costs and increases efficiency (Ivanko and Kivirist 2004).

“Rural Renaissance” by Ivanko and Kivirist (2004) summarized the process of enrollment of the farmers’ markets:

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· Engage the farmers at the market by asking them how they decided on the kinds of crops they are growing, whether they grow organically, how long it took to harvest, and what time they got up that day to make it to market.

· Bring re-usable canvas bags, baskets or boxes. · Be open to new seasonal offerings

Picture 5: A view from Kerkenes-Eco-Center by Kerkenes Office Archives

MethodologyThis thesis consists of various methodologies which are mostly based on collecting face-to-face information. PEBOSCA Analysis from the UN Habitat Agenda, the fundamental methodology in this thesis project, provided the necessary insights for the essential aspects of developing an eco-village. The Kerkenes Eco-Center office in Ankara was the primary source for collecting data, accessing and reading the reports and publications, and particularly allowed the researcher to meet with project coordinators, academicians, workers at the Eco- Center and members of the local community. Survey and the interview methods were found very effective in addition to a deep literature research which was very useful to understand the background and theoretical framework through the literature review.

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UN Habitat Agenda: PEBOSCA Analysis

The Rio Conference was one of the most significant steps for integrating sustainable development into the literature in 1992. The fundamental theme of this conference was to create collaborative actions among the states to integrate environmental issues into the development policies considering human beings as the center of this action. Principle 4 from the report of the UN Conference on Environment and Development (1992) states that “In order to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection shall constitute an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it.” Agenda 21, which was a remarkable global document, also contained a notable outcome from the conference.

Four years after the Rio Conference, in the Habitat II meeting, t h e concept of sustainable development was extended by including the sustainability of the human habitats into the notion (Berg 2010). In the UN Sustainable Cities program, instead of the global and cooperative actions, the report concentrated on rural and local regions. Subsequently, the seven dimensions of sustainable development have been described as “physical, economical, biological, organizational, social, cultural and aesthetic,” all of which is called PEBOSCA.

The other contribution of t h e U N Habitat Agenda to sustainable development was to go beyond the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainability which were mentioned in Rio, 1992. The UN Habitat Agenda takes into consideration the non-physical resources with physical resources, which is a significant step for developing of our human habitats and living conditions. In the Agenda, seven dimensions of human habitats are mentioned that sustainable development consists of various disciplines and study fields. Therefore, the participants of the sustainable community developers should carefully consider PEBOSCA and it is crucial for development of sustainable communities (Berg 2010).

I. Physical Dimension: Every human habitat has its own physical resources which feed the habitats and promote the continuation of inhabitants’ lives. However, with the impacts of globalization and the high level o f industrial activities of the whole world, physical resources are diminishing fast and the evaluation of the economic and social values of these resources have changed towards seeking for the efficient management of physical resources. Accordingly, supporting production and consumption patterns s h o u l d be implemented both in the urban and the rural human habitats to deal with the increasing urbanization and the depletion of physical resources such as water, energy, waste, new technologies and renewable energy (Berg 2010).

II. Economic Dimension: Macro and micro economics analysis must be conducted considering both global and local economies, which interact constantly. When a crisis occurs at the global level, it directly affects local economies. Furthermore, governments and

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local institutions are involved in the economic processes, which then affect the local economies. Therefore, for efficient economic policies, contributions from governments and local institutions such as municipalities or NGOs are necessary. Public commons and property rights of communities is also one of the most important issues in human habitats. Establishing common public places such as local shops, community buildings and facilities will increase the potential of regional economies as well as the social interaction of the inhabitants. A balance between common areas and private investments will be fruitful for sustainable community development (Berg 2010).

III. Biological Dimension: Human habitats adapt to their natural environments and are involved in the ecosystem. However, human activities such as urbanization or over-consumption affect the natural processes and the structure of biodiversity. The most considerable example is losing green areas in our cities. The ability to access clean water or live in a healthy atmosphere is significant for the development of human habitats since they are also considered living environments and a part of the ecosystem. Thus, increasing the green areas both in the rural and urban areas is vital for the continuation of the human habitats and sustainability (Berg 2010).

IV. Organizational Dimension: Having environmentally efficient technologies or economic policies is not enough for the habitats to be sustainable; therefore, organization in human habitats is crucial for development as well. Transportation is one of the most important issues for improving the conditions of a city or a village. Houses in a village can be built with the latest environmental technology, and local products can be profitable; however, if there is not a very well organized mobility of goods and services for the inhabitants, the other dimensions become meaningless (Berg 2010).

V. Social Dimension: The social dimension is taking the inhabitants into account by providing them with a place where they can sustain their lives in a happy, healthy and safe environment. The most important issue is a feeling of belonging to that place. Embracing the place where a person lives increases social interaction within neighborhoods and the community. In addition, a feeling of security and being in a clean environment make a human habitat more attractive. Having a school in the middle of a village, for example, allows children to move around and have a feeling of security for the local community. Moreover, a common history, background and lifestyles make social relationships warmer and more reliable (Berg 2010).

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VI. Cultural Dimension: Every human habitat has its specified and characteristic properties, which cannot be found in another place. Therefore, human habitats are unique in a sense, and even the same applications into different habitats may bring out different outcomes. A cultural dimension gives the place its character and identity by which all the elements of that local area are influenced. Preserving the cultural character of a place is an opportunity for future generations to understand how their place has evolved. Moreover, sharing the same history, traditions and rituals strengthens the social power of the local community (Berg 2010).

VII. Aesthetic Dimension: Even if the physical, economic, biological, organizational, social and cultural dimensions are provided, if the visual properties of that habitat are not developed, it still cannot be considered a sustainable human habitat due since it is not visually impressive. The aesthetic dimension has to be considered as contributing to the other six dimensions s i n c e i t increases the attraction of the living environment (Berg 2010).

Literature ResearchDetailed literature research both from Uppsala University Library in Sweden, t h e Center for Sustainable Development (CEMUS) at Uppsala University, and the Middle East Technical University Library in Turkey as well as various academic web browsers were used to conduct a deep literature review. For the relevant literature, c o l l e c t i n g recently published and t h e latest data about the issues were primarily considered. However, researched books, articles and web pages were used particularly for developing the theoretical framework of this project. However, the proposal, discussions and evaluation of the study were based on information and experiences from the field trips, interviews, and surveys.

Study Trips

The study trips to two eco-villages, Hagaby in Uppsala and Hammarsby Sjödstad in Stockholm, during the master’s course “Interdisciplinary Methods” were important opportunities to gather information about the basic concepts of ecological habitats. The researchers also conducted several study visits to Kerkenes Eco-Center during data collection and the writing process. These study trips were beneficial to observe the essential deficiencies in the village and the Eco-Center. There were also several opportunities during the field trips to interview people in the Sahmuratli village who were vital for developing the programs for the village community.

Survey

The survey conducted in the village contained specific questions regarding the economic welfare, social integration and environmental consciousness of the villagers. There were 60 families living in Şahmuratlı village making the total population of the village around 120 people

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including 30 children under 18 years old (Accountant of the village association). However, only 58 residents of the village participated in the survey, h a l f o f w h i c h w e r e f e m a l e . T h e s u r v e y w a s o f f e r e d t o a l l v i l l a g e r e s i d e n t s a n d p e r s o n a l i n f o r m a t i o n ( e . g . , n a m e ) w a s n o t a s k e d i n o r d e r t o m a i n t a i n t h e s u r v e y r e l i a b i l i t y a n d t o p r e v e n t f u t u r e p r o b l e m s w i t h i n t h e v i l l a g e . F u r t h e r m o r e , t h e r e s p o n d e n t s w e r e i n f o r m e d c l e a r l y t h a t t h e i r a n s w e r s w o u l d n o t b e r e v e a l e d i n t h e f u t u r e . T h e s a m p l e s i z e o f t h e s u r v e y w a s b a l a n c e d w i t h a n e q u a l n u m b e r o f m a l e s a n d f e m a l e p a r t i c i p a n t s a l t h o u g h t h e s a m p l e s i z e w a s v e r y s m a l l . The questions were prepared to measure the economic and social welfare of the village with a simple questionnaire. The economic welfare was compared with the minimum wage of the country. Social welfare was measured by the questions, which are related to education and social relations among the society and the ecological center. There were also questions about the environmental consciousness and society’s willing to work in the Kerkenes Eco-Center. It is very important to convince people that the Eco-Center in the village will improve their living conditions. Therefore, their understanding of the Eco-Center was very significant for this study.

In spite of a serious attempt to ask appropriate questions, survey results were not as efficient as expected due to the political situation in the village. During the personal discussions throughout the survey, interviewees indicated that many things needed to be improved to receive maximum benefits from the Kerkenes Eco-Center; however, when analyzing the survey results, most of the recorded answers were positive about the Eco-Center because there was pressure or influential ideas from the other residents. As a result, t h e survey was conducted more than one time after considering the contradictory answers from the first survey. Therefore, the application method of the survey has been changed in each time such as the survey has been given to the head of the village in the first application. However, in the second application, same survey questions were sent via mail. In the final application, the questions have been distributed one by one for each family members and detailed oral explanation has been given about the study. After the third survey, the results were found to be more reliable and realistic. Thus, using the third survey’s results, correlation coefficients were calculated and outcomes are explained in the Analysis of the Survey Results section of this study .

Analysis of the Survey Results

Data was collected from 53 surveys. Various groups were specified to demonstrate the relation between the welfare, social integration and environmental awareness considering other variables such as sex, education level and income level of the local community in Sahmuratli. The major objective of this statistical analysis was to show the relationship between the main three aspects of sustainable development in a local community development study. These data were collected through a survey of the residents who were willing to participate. The statistical measurements of

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the correlation coefficient were then used to observe the relationships between the indicators in Excel 2009.

Correlation coefficient (r) measures the strengths and directions of the linear relationship between two variables (Gujarati 2006). Correlation coefficient is always between -1 and 1, which is shown as follows. Negative (positive) relationship implies when one of the parameter increases (decreases), the other parameter decreases (decreases).

-1 r 1

(a) “When “r” = -1, there is a negative linear relation between two variables.(b) When “r” = 1, there is a positive linear relation between two variables.(c) When “r” = 0, there is no relation between the variables.(d) The higher the absolute value of correlation coefficient, stronger the linear relation

between the variables” (Newbold 2002).

Table 1 shows the calculated correlation coefficients between different variables and the interpretations of the coefficients as follows:

Table 1: Correlation Coefficients r ( I n c o m e , Education level)

r ( I n c o m e , Opinion).

r ( O p i n i o n , Economic Welfare)

r(Opinion, Social Relation)

r ( E . W e l f a r e , Social Relation)

r ( E . w e l f a r e , Income)

0.066 0.070 0.672 0.71 0.63 0.18

The correlation coefficients of sex variable groups were all positive, determining a positive relationship between the two variables within the groups. The relationship between income and the education level of the local community was low having a correlation coefficient closer to 0, but there was a positive relationship. Education level was evaluated by asking participants if their education level was “higher than the primary school ”/ “primary school and below.” Subsequently, the income was compared with the lowest wage, which had been set by the government for 2010, which is 760 TL (3727 SEK). According to the survey results, most of the village residents had higher educations than primary school; particularly the men. Typically, when education level increases, income of the population increases, so this correlation was weak: 0.066.

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When evaluating the positive relation between income and opinions of the local community about the Kerkenes Eco-Center, again the relationship was weak, but positive: 0.070.In other words, when income from the Kerkenes Eco-Center increased, t h e opinions of the local community about the Eco-Center will increase. However, since the relationship between these two variables was weak, it was assumed that there were other factors, which influenced the opinion of the residents about the Kerkenes Eco-Center such as the political situation in the village. When conflicts in the ideas among the community a r i s e ,they affect the attitudes of the residents towards the Eco-Center. They may find the Eco-Center as an income source, but political conflicts decrease their positive attitudes.

Nevertheless, t h e correlation coefficient of the opinion about the Eco-Center and economic welfare resulted in a strong positive relationship, which is 0.67. When the economic welfare of the local community increases, the positive attitude of the community increases. Due to the strong relationship between the opinions of the local community and their economic welfare, income generating activities will increase the Eco-Center’s promotion in the village. Therefore, there is a strong link between the increasing welfare and increasing positive attitude towards the Eco-Center.

In spite of a strong link, the villagers assume that the welfare increase results from increasing equal working opportunities in the Eco-Center. Likewise, the positive relationship between the increase in social relationships and opinions about the Eco-Center was very high: 0.71. The researcher asked community members if their social relationships increased among the neighbors and the facilitators as well as the visitors. According to the results, when the social relationships of the local community increased, the community had a positive attitude towards the Eco-Center. As can be seen from the results of these two variable groups, the link between the social relations and opinions was stronger than the link between economic welfare and opinions. The research results showed that the social improvements within the village were very significant for participating in the Eco-Center’s facilities.

Finally , t he relationship between the economic welfare of the community and the increase in social relationships was calculated as 0.63. This correlation shows how the economic welfare and social issues are correlated. Thus, a high correlation coefficient demonstrates that there is positive feedback among these two variables. When the economic welfare increases, it positively impacts the social relationships in the community. Moreover, an increase in the social relationships in the community would increase the economic welfare, which can be explained as the benefits of collaboration and community development. To check the correctness of the analysis, the correlation coefficient between income and economic welfare of the local community was calculated as 0.18.

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Although income is a fundamental factor of economic welfare, t h e relationship between income and economic welfare was closer to “zero” in this situation which indicates a weak link between these two variables. This result indicates that there are other factors which influence the economic welfare apart from income. The political situation and the social living conditions of the local community are assumed to have a strong influence on the residents’ welfare.

Interviews

Interviews were useful for collecting accurate data from the professionals and organizations who took participated in the environmental projects. An interview was arranged with the project coordinator, Francoise Summers, who is also an environmental architect. In addition, the researcher interviewed the accountant of the association in the Kerkenes Eco-Center and the previous headman of the Şahmuratlı village who expressed conflicting ideas . Neve r the l e s s , the political issues were very fruitful. The interviews with people from the village were conducted in Turkish. A summary of the interviews are given below: S e l e c t i o n o f t h e p e o p l e w h o w e r e i n t e r v i e w e d w a s b a s e d o n t h e i r r o l e s a n d e x p e r i e n c e s i n t h e K e r k e n e s -E c o - C e n t e r p r o j e c t . T h e p e o p l e w h o w e r e m o r e i n v o l v e d i n t h e p r o j e c t , a n d t h o s e w i t h m o r e e x p e r i e n c e w e r e m o r e a b l e t o e v a l u a t e t h e i m p a c t s a s w e l l a s t h e p r o g r e s s o f t h e p r o j e c t . M o r e o v e r , c h o o s i n g v a r i o u s i n t e r vi e w e e s p r o v i d e d d i f f e r e n t i n f o r m a t i o n a n d p e r s p e c t i v e s w h i c h a l l o w e d f o r b r o a d e r i n s i g h t s a b o u t t h e i m p a c t s o f t h e p r o j e c t . Interview with Francoise SummersFrancoise Summers is working as an instructor in the Department of Architecture at Middle East Technical University since 1998. She is the co-director of the Kerkenes Eco-Center project which was first initiated the as Kerkenes project by her husband, Geoffrey Summers, , then by herself as the Kerkenes Eco-Center project in 2002. After observing the shortage of water every summer, she decides to integrate some sustainable and environmental techniques into the village to help the local community with basic agriculture and other environmental issues. The attitude about the project was very positive in the beginning, which provided cash income, especially for the women, as a result of their work at the Eco-Center. She also explained that the local authorities were very supportive including the governor and the municipality.

According to Francoise Summers’ experience throughout the project in Şahmuratlı village, the most difficult issue of the project was the conflicts and the political situation among the local community. Furthermore, the scarcity of funding and grant opportunities for the Eco-Center, was particularly a drawback for the current and future projects in the Eco-Center. She states that marketing the local ecological products could be an important source for generating income

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for the residents of the village. However, the licensing problem for the products prevented them from selling the products in the market.

She concludes her interview with saying that the “Kerkenes Eco-Center can be a promising place for education and research in future, although there is an essential need for the grants and sponsors for the project. Besides, awareness of the local authorities is crucial for integrating the environmental friendly and sustainable approaches into the village. In a nutshell, solving the political conflict in the village, finding additional funding opportunities and overcoming the bureaucratic procedures for the Eco- Center demonstrations will increase the attraction of the Eco-Center in the village as well as increase the participation of the local community”.

Interview with the accountant of Şahmuratlı village and Kerkenes Association- SAH-DER

The accountant of the SAH-DER Association works for the SAH-DER Association of the village. He states that his responsibilities included following the accounts of the projects in the Kerkenes Eco-Center as well as finding the temporary workers for the production. He explains that the system of payments to the workers was that women receive 4TL (20 SEK) and the men receive 5TL (25 SEK) per hour while 10% of the payments are given back to the association. Furthermore, he is also responsible for selling the products and collecting the money for the association.

He then describes his concerns about the Eco-Center as both a resident in the village and the accountant of SAH-DER. He stated that the jobs are temporary and unequally distributed among the local community. The political situation in the village resulted in finding the same workers for the center. He goes on to say that the members of the association were not regularly attending the meetings nor paying their fees, which are 2 TL (10 SEK) per month.

There are currently 81 members, 34 of whom are women and 47 of whom are men. This number includes members from other cities or countries via a village website. He also explains his observations from the Eco-Center’s and the residents’ perspectives: “First of all, the members are not aware of their responsibilities and they are not participating in the seminars, meetings or workshops where the facilities and activities. Also the Eco-Center facilitators are not concentrating on the real necessities of the village; restoration of the old primary school, for instance.”

As for the environmental applications in the center, he admitted that he learned new techniques which increased his environmental awareness; however, using these techniques in daily life was below their expectations. He asked “What is going to happen after the Kerkenes

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Eco-Center project is finished?” and then asked about facilities which would be beneficial for the village after the project. Finally , he stated that the political situation should be solved to increase the equal participation of the community for the benefit of the Eco-Center.

Interview with the Previous Village Headman and the Previous Headman of SAH-DER

The headman of the village was also the person who established t h e SAH-DER Association in the village. He worked as a primary school teacher, but the school had been closed so he started to work at the Kerkenes Eco-Center project. He has a minibus which provided the transportation for the Eco-Center and brought children to school. His attitude was very positive about the project from the beginning, and was the initiator of the association in order to increase the contributions of the Eco-Center project in the village. He states that with the Kerkenes Eco-Center project, he and the local community understood that they could be recognized and their conditions could improve. Moreover, he indicates that the Eco-Center provided opportunities to the local community by increasing their incomes through the temporary jobs. He noted that the foreign visitors and the social activities in the Eco- Center increased their social relations. After his term at the association ended, he observed that the ideas and attitudes of the local community changed towards the Eco-Center due to the decrease in the grants for the project. This caused demotivation among the local community , which decreased their willingness to work without for free.

He asserts that the residents would be willing the work at the Eco-Center as long as the Eco- Center provided them with permanent income. He admits that he and his family had learned a lot from the environmental demonstrations at the Eco-Center; but he finds them to be expensive and difficult to apply in his own house. He concludes that the Eco-Center was an opportunity for the village and the political conflict should not be an obstacle for this opportunity .

Proposal to Improve Social and Economic ConditionsThis part of the study explains the proposed programs for improving the social and economic conditions of the Şahmuratlı village and Kerkenes Eco-Center. These programs will provide the village with an increase in welfare and social integration of the community. At the same time, they will promote the participation of the local community in the Kerkenes Eco-Center’s environmental facilities. Furthermore, these programs will hopefully increase the integration of the local community with the Eco-Center by increasing the attraction of working and participating in the Eco-Center. Kerkenes Eco-Center will be supportive for the community and improve the conditions of the village. The old primary school in the village will be converted into a useful and multi-functional place for the village and also host the environmental demonstrations of the Kerkenes Eco-Center. Eco- tourism and youth

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camps are opportunities for the local community to earn some money and meet people outside of the village. Introduction of waste management techniques will a l s o be useful to decrease the pollution in the village. Subsequently, local food marketing will contribute to the village income and an efficient transportation system will increase mobility in the village, which will make life easier.

1. Restoration of the Old Primary School

Local schools are the fundamental institutions that promote social community development and safety in an environment. Considering the theory of Sustainable Community, one of the most important capitals of a community is development of the social capital, which creates the ‘glue’ for a community in a region. Moreover, children are significant elements for generating social activities in a community. Having a primary school in an environment is very beneficial for t h e development of social integration among the inhabitants of a certain place. Furthermore, children can grow up with their close neighbors, which also improves the relationships between their parents in the community.

Schools are also very important local services in a community according to the organizational dimension of PEBOSCA Analysis from the UN Habitat Agenda. To make life in a community easier and m o r e comfortable, there should be a systematic organization, which can offer the local community with different opportunities such as local shops, schools and transportation. A well-organized community will increase the society’s thrust, social relations and comfort. In addition, schools and children are considered protected in a community, which will also foster a safe environment and increase the confidence of the inhabitants of a community.

Hagaby has its pre-schools and school for different levels of education in the village, which is a remarkable way to invest in social capital. Since one-third (120) of the local community are children, schools in Hagaby, are places where the children c a n increase their socialization (Berg 2002). W aldorf School has nine grades where children and their parents have the opportunity to meet others in the local community and to meet with people outside of Hagaby (Berg 2002). In Hagaby, a great importance has been given to developing social relations and neighborhoods; The schools and pre-school in Hagaby are crucial places for them and their families to meet their local community.

In Şahmuratlı village, there is a well-built school, which has several classrooms and a big garden that is provides a sufficient environment for the education of children. However,, t h e school is closed, primarily due to decreasing numbers of primary school age children, and accordingly,

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the lack of having teachers in the school. Therefore, it was closed down and the children must go to another school in another village. As a result, transportation is an issue during winter. The absence of a school in Şahmuratlı village is an important challenge for the development of a sustainable community. Therefore, one of the proposal projects for Sahmuratli is to convert the primary school into an available education center for children and the village as a whole.

Compared to Hagaby, the number of the children who are primary school age is lower, which is around 30 out of 120 inhabitants creating both pros and cons. The school is large enough to provide education to all of the children in the village, but getting a teacher from the government is an issue. Furthermore, since the school has been closed for several years, they need professional reconstruction to provide children with a clean, comfortable and efficient education place. Therefore, renovation of the primary school is a big project itself which should be planned and organized by the facilitators. Below several programs for the school a r e p r e s e n t e d in order to contribute to the social integration of the local community with the facilities of the Kerkenes Eco-Center. Due to the primary school’s location and physical condition, it can be used for different facilities at the same time. The main goal of the restoration is to create an available place where children and the local community and the Kerkenes Eco-Center can receive many benefits.

Picture 6: Primary School in Hagaby which educates up to 9th grade by Jorge Ueyonahara

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1.1 A Place for Children to Be Educated in Environmental IssuesThe United Nations Environmental Program has established an environmental education program called Regional Environmental Action Learning in more than 300 pilot eco-schools in Africa (UNEP 2002). The main goal of the program is to educate children on the necessities of their environment, environmental processes, and environmental protection. The program requires participation of the children as well the local communities. They are educated about practical environmental issues for the local region such as recycling, solid waste reduction and sustainable waste water management (UNEP 2002). The program a l so gives the local communities an opportunity to understand the benefits of having eco-schools where they can work on small environmental projects and applications.

According to the program aims, there are professional facilitators on environment in the eco-schools who educate the teachers of the schools, and later those teacher educate the children in the local community. Thus, it is also a chance for the teachers to learn about environmental issues and they, in turn, transfer this knowledge to future generations creating a remarkable promotion for sustainable development. At the end of the applications, results have shown that there are more income generating activities and environmental consciousness (UNEP 2002). Activities that have been arranged by the program are basic environmental facilities including solar cookers, c a t c h i n g water, simple cultivation, planting activities, and composting and recycling practices (UNEP 2002).

In Hagaby, pre-schools and schools provide the local community with opportunities to meet and communicate which increases social integration. Suggesting such an educational program for Sahmuratli village will increase the environmental awareness of the children and improve the conditions of the whole community. In addition, the neighborhood council in Hagaby, which has existed since 2000, encourages schools in the community to participate in common decisions and discussions. As for Sahmuratli village, the Kerkenes Eco-Center and the SAH-DER Association can cooperate to implement an education program like the UNEP offered to African countries. SAH-DER can work t h e same as the neighborhood council and the Kerkenes Eco-Center can be the facilitator for the education program consisting of the following issues:· Environmental demonstrations, which have been held in the Eco-Center should be

extended in the primary school. Solar cookers, for instance, can be introduced to the children to teach them to use solar power.

· A cultivation area can be established so children can plant their own fruits and vegetables and teach them to consume fresh and healthy food.

· Building a container using the straw bale house technique in the school garden can be used for the recycling.

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· Some lectures by university students from METU who also work in the Eco-Center can be given to the children after their regular curriculum.

· Designing classrooms as studying rooms and a library .· Organizing “book campaigns” to collect books and “art competitions” to increase socializing

activities including outside of the village.· Helping children create their own “environmentally friendly” toys will contribute to their

creativity and imagination.

Picture 7: Primary school which has been closed in Sahmuratli village from Kerkenes Office Archive

Apart from the education program, the primary school building can also be multifunctional by offering:

1.2 A Place for Workshops, Seminars and ConventionsPrimary school should not only be a place for the children, it can also be used for workshops, seminars and small education conferences for both the workers in the Eco-Center and the village. Workshops, seminars and conferences can be organized in the primary school in order to explain the main goals of the Kerkenes Eco-Center, and provide a location for the environmental demonstrations. Experts from the Eco-Center can be introduced new

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applications to the local community and the benefits can be explained in terms of economic and environmental aspects. Such organizations will provide essential awareness to the local community about the Eco-Center, and increase the contribution of the community in the association.

1.3 A Common Place for the Local Community in Şahmuratlı Village

Apart from the educational objectives of the primary school in Şahmuratlı village, it can be a meeting hall for the local community. For instance, neighbors can meet in the evenings in the school garden. In Hagaby, there are routine weekend activities organized in the Haga Hall where most of the residents can meet every week (Berg, 2002). Some of the SAH-DER Association meetings can also be organized in the school with facilitators from the Eco-Center. These organizations can include dinner or “fika” to add entertainment. Furthermore, movie nights or picnics can be arranged so the whole community can meet regularly and discuss common issues. At the same time, spending time and sharing the common values will increase commonality and eventually prevent the current political conflicts in the village.

1.4 An Open Market Place for local products and children toy-exchange

Another option for the school building is to introduce fairs and open exchange markets. The theme of these fairs and markets should be environmental awareness and protection. In Hagaby, children bring their old clothes and toys to sell in the Haga Hall during Sunday activities. In Sahmuratli, toy exchange days or fairs can be organized to diminish the consumption of commercial toys which many families cannot afford in the village. In addition, Kerkenes products, which are listed in the Appendix part, can be sold in an open market at the primary school. The school building can be the local shop for selling those products to visitors and interested local community m e m b e r s. However, the only significant concern of organizing fairs and open markets is applying for “permission” from the governor of Yozgat, which is a long and difficult bureaucratic process.

2. Development of Marketing Strategies for the Local Products

Selling local products has been very popular for the last decades due to the realization of the benefits of consuming fresh, healthy and organic food. Generally, the products are sold by the producers in the open markets directly by themselves, which also increase the communication opportunities of the producers and the consumers. However, more opportunities for marketing local food is developing (Jewett, Nelson, Braaten 2007). Local or regional food has been described as “A food from a specific locality, identified as having a particular tie to that locality” (SAC 2007). The theories of “Community Supported Agriculture” and “Farmers’

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Markets” explain the significance of selling local products. According to Community Supported Agriculture, all the farmers in the community participate in the marketing process:

2.1 SAH-DER and Community Supported Agriculture

Community Supported Agriculture provides the community with coming together and sharing the risks and costs of the production (Jewett, Nelson, Braaten 2007). In this eco-village case, the SAH-DER Association can organizes the producers in the Eco-Center for producing the Kerkenes products. The theory focuses on mostly the agriculture products; however, it is also applicable for Kerkenes Eco-Center products. Initially, fruits and vegetables, which are the main ingredients of the Kerkenes products, come from the farms of the village. Therefore, CSA can be an initiative for the local community to start participating in the production process by providing the raw materials and earning money from it. Moreover, the CSA theory promotes face-to-face relations between the producers and the consumers (Jewett, Nelson, Braaten 2007).

Picture 8: Tant Grons Skafferi (Aunt Green’s Larder) in Hagaby by Jorge Ueyonahara

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Gunes Koy is an example of an eco-village which mostly grows and consumes organic products with a legal certificate from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in Turkey. Gunes Koy was established in September, 2000 by nine members as a cooperative located 60 km from Ankara. The main missions of the village are to promote organic agriculture using local seeds. Cooperative members a l s o work with the local community to disseminate renewable energy and sustainable architecture as well as ecological transportation systems (Gunes Koy 2000). One of the most important properties of Gunes Koy is being a member of GEN Europe, an association for preserving the sustainable settlements through ecological villages and protect natural treasures of the settlements (GEN Europe 2010). Therefore, being involved in such an organization generates environmental activities according to international standards. In recent years, organic agriculture has spread among local communities in that region and they have decided to shift from traditional agriculture to organic agriculture.

According to interviews with the Gunes Koy project coordinators, Ali Gokmen and Inci Gokmen, from the Department of Chemistry in Middle East Technical University, in the Gunes Koy, community supported agriculture is currently applied remarkably in the local community who participate in producing and selling organic fruits and vegetables. The members find customers who are willing to buy organic products weekly and then a specific size box of products is delivered to the customers’ houses. In 2007, almost 100 families benefited from consuming organic fruits and vegetables for 20 weeks with the project called Bahcemiz (“ Our Garden).” The application fee was 400 TL (1912 SEK) for 20 weeks and there is also an opportunity to pay in four months at 110 TL(525) per month (Gunes Koy 2007). Every Sunday, Gunes Koy products, particularly organic products, are sold in an open market in Ankara.

Gunes Koy is a significant example both for Şahmuratlı village and Turkey in terms of preserving sustainable communities and improving environmental protection, social integration and welfare. Samuratli village urgently needs to sell its local products in the market. However, the particular problem is the registration and obtaining the legal certificate to enter the market legally. According to the detailed legislation research and interviews with project coordinators in Gunes Koy, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in Turkey gives rights to some consultant companies to check for the quality control and the availability of the products to issue the “Organic Product Certificates” (ORGUDER 2010), but the process is lengthy and difficult

Kerkenes Eco-Center products should be certificated to be recognized in the market. After obtaining the certificate, the local community can be involved in community supported agriculture and can increase their income by providing people with healthy and fresh food. SAH-DER can be the applicant on behalf of t he village and t he Kerkenes Eco-Center can

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provide the essential knowledge about producing the organic and eco-friendly products. Moreover, when the income of the village increases, the scale of production and the n u m b e r o f participants will increase when they experience success from being involved in producing Kerkenes products. The products can be sold in specific organic product markets as Gunes Koy has done.

Picture 9: Tant Grons Skafferi (Aunt Green’s Larder) in Hagaby by Jorge Ueyonahara

2.2 Local Products Market and Local Shop

Farmers Markets, allow producers to set a market date and bring their products to that market. There will be direct communication with the consumers, which will provide the farmers with necessary insights about the customers’ preferences. However, farmers’ markets do not guarantee that all products will be sold on that date. There will also be other vendors in the market, so consumers can choose their preferred vendors (Jewett, Nelson, Braaten 2007). Choosing the right place for opening their stalls is very important for accessing consumers as well. Using a similar farmers’ market framework, products can also be sold in small shops on certain days and times, which is much more beneficial for the producers. They will have specific locations where their customers can buy from a shop.

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In Hagaby, Tant Grons Skafferi (Aunt Green’s Larder) is a local shop that also provides the opportunity for the inhabitants of Hagaby to consume local products. The majority of the products come from local agricultural fields and people from Hagaby and other villages are interested in trying the green and fresh products. Apart from the local food products, there are also environmentally friendly produced soaps, children clothes and home accessories sold in the shop (Berg 2002). According to random conversations with some of the Hagaby residents, people are very content consuming fresh, local food on which they have information including the production conditions and methods. Furthermore, in Haag Hall, residents can eat locally grown meals, especially Sunday brunches. Food is prepared from the local products so the community can taste Hagaby products without buying them directly.

Picture 10: Ladies are cooking traditional food at the Eco-Center by using the Kerkenes products

In t h e Kerkenes Eco-Center, indigenous and various local products have been produced by the workers from Şahmuratlı village. They e v e n use environmental experiments such as “solar cookers” to produce local products. Therefore, these products are the outcomes of the environmental demonstrations of t h e Kerkenes Eco-Center. However, the biggest issue is

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that only a few of the local community members from Şahmuratlı village can participate in these production processes due to the political situation and the community’s lack of interest to work in the Eco-Center. There is an essential need to organize the marketing of Kerkenes products as well. The main objective of this proposal is to create an income-generating activity for the community and to integrate the community into the Eco-Center by preventing unequal participation in the Eco-Center.

In the Eco-Center, local production focuses on dried fruits and vegetables, which are produced by the specific agriculture techniques such as drip irrigation and compost fertilizers. A special type of village bread, which is indigenous to that region, and different types of jams and stewed fruits are produced. Ladies who work at the Eco-Center cook various dishes from Turkish cuisine using these local products. These meals are prepared for the Kerkenes Eco-Center workers and the facilitators; therefore, they can tasted and appreciated the locally grown food. During organized meals for the visitors or activities in the Eco-Center, these dishes are also served in order to introduce them to the visitors.

Picture 11: A lady at Kerkenes-Eco-Center is cooking by using the solar cooker from Kerkenes Office Archives

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At the farmers’ market, consumers require some criteria in order to buy the products regularly such as hygiene in production, quality in taste and freshness. Both the taste and the appearance of these products should convince the consumers that the products are healthy, fresh and tasty (SAC 2007). In t he Kerkenes Eco-Center, they have already started to do standard packing; for instance, using standard labels for each product, which provides people with the perception of a brand: “Kerkenes Ecologic Village Products.” T h e l a b e l s o n e a c h p r o d u c t include the name of the product, ingredients, how it is produced and the production date. Selling different, original food in the market is important to compete with the other producers in the market and to have regular consumers (SAC 2007). Kerkenes products can be relatively advantageous over other mass-produced products in the market since it offers different tastes from different production styles. For example, preparing stewed apples at home is possible, but it consumes too much time. However, people are willing to buy the prepared stewed fruit when it is fresh. These products are also “green,” which is likely to attract more customers.

In order to create an income- generating activity in the village, marketing of local products should be well organized as is done in Hagaby. Shops such as Tant Grons Skafferi can be a great opportunity to increase the village’s income. Local shops in the village or t h e Eco- Center will increase the attraction to visitors and they will be more willing to taste Kerkenes products. Moreover, to introduce thes products of Kerkenes Eco-Center to more people outside of the village, the farmers’ market should be organized in a market in Sorgun and Y ozgat. A shop that is periodically given to the Kerkenes Eco-Center to sell their products or a stall in an open market can be an initiative for Kerkenes products. Additionally, while selling the local products in the market or shop, advertisement of Kerkenes Eco-Center as well as participation of Şahmuratlı village will create curiosity among consumers, which will encourage them to visit the village and the Eco-Center. This can also be an opportunity for the Eco-Center to spread its “environmental” ideas.

Contracting with the open market in Sorgun every Thursday would be a good start. Producers can bring and sell their own products in the open market f o r t h e whole day. First thing SAH-DER as the legal institution needs to write a request letter to the Head of Sorgun Municipality to ask for a stall in the market, which costs 2TL (10 SEK). SAH-DER can hire a person who will be responsible from the merchandise the whole day, and he can be paid 40TL (192 SEK) per day as a daily fee. When it comes to transportation of the products to Sorgun, which is around 12 km away from the village, most local community members have their own private cars to transport the products to the market. SAH-DER can also find someone who would volunteering to transport the products.

The income from the selling the products can be distributed equally among the members of the SAH-DER Association. This will encourage the local community to participate in the Eco-

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Center and become members of the association, which is also beneficial for increasing the income of the association. When people understand that the Eco-Center is working for the good of the village, their willingness to contribute to the production and selling activities will increase.

Consequently, all the stakeholders benefit from the farmers’ market. For the small producers, it provides an additional income as well as a n o u t l e t t o enter the market with their local products. Consumers benefit from buying fresh and healthy food. Furthermore, they can access information about the products by communicating with the producers face-to-face. The community itself can create their regional economy, which is an opportunity for the community to consume such healthy products as well (USDA Agricultural Marketing Service 2009). Hence, the workers in the Eco-Center can sell Kerkenes products, which will create a local economy-generating income for SAH-DER and subsequently for the local community. The benefit to the people who buy these products is that they can consume fresh and environmentally friendly prepared products.

Picture 12: Solar driers for fruits and vegetables from Kerkenes Office Archives

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3. Development of Transportation: Car-sharing and Public Transport

Transportation within the community is another crucial issue that has to be provided efficiently. In our modern lives cars are used extensively for all transportation needs, which primarily results in depleting resources and pollution. Therefore, replacing cars with other means of transportation is required. Particularly in rural development, implementation of systematic transportation is significant. Apart from the transportation in a community, it provides a region with connections to other regions that is also essential in our modern lives.

According to the interviews with some of the local community in Sahmuratli, almost every household owns a private car, which has a considerable impact on the environment as well as on the social relations of the community. In addition, it is costly to use individual cars rather than choosing more efficient means of transportation. In contrast, Hagaby is a successful case for a developed transportation system. Hagaby village is 4 km away from the city center where the majority of the transportation is provided by the municipal buses and bicycle routes. There are a l s o many pedestrians who use the comfortable and safe pedestrian roads. Research has shown that about 90% of the residents in Hagaby use municipal buses, which run on a predictable schedule. Although 80% of the 350 residents in Hagaby have their own cars, there are 300 bicycles. Bicycle repairing, parking and safety is well-developed in Hagaby, providing enough bicycle parking places, repair shops and storage. Formal car-sharing has not been developed yet; however, informal car sharing has been adopted by the residents for a long time (Berg 2002).

Şahmuratlı village is 12 km away from the city center of Sorgun, which is a small developing town of Yozgat. Roads from Sorgun to Sahmuratli are straight but narrow, which is not safe for cycling. Since every household owns a car, they prefer to drive more than using other transportation modes. Moreover, public transportation is not well developed and accessing public transportation is not easy and comfortable. Transportation from the village to other places is a significant issue. On the other hand, the village is very small, so there is no need to use any vehicles since most of the places are accessible by walking in the village. To some extent, transportation within the village can be described as sustainable. However, the Kerkenes Eco-Center introduce the concept of a “cycling village” for future applications as a environmental demonstration .

3.1 Car-Sharing System in SahmuratliUsing a car-sharing system diminishes the environmental impact in terms of saving energy resources and parking problems. Car sharing provides people with the u se o f private cars without committing to the cost of owning a private car (Shaheen, Cohen and Roberts 2005). Rather than purchasing a car or using a private car every day, people can join a car-sharing organization to decrease the environmental impacts, particularly when there is a need

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for only short distance transportation. Car sharing decreases the costs of travel and increases mobility options for local transportation. Research from t h e Victoria Transport Policy Institute has compared the costs and convenience of using private cars and car-sharing as shown in Table 2 (Litman 1999):

Table 2. Comparison of transporation optionsCar-sharing Private Car Public Transport

Convenience Medium High Medium-Low

Fixed Charges 730 SEK/ year 14,650-29,300 SEK/ year

4,400SEK/ year

Time Charges 110 SEK/ hour 0 0

According to the figures in Table 2, car-sharing provides a medium level of convenience, b u t it is much cheaper than using private cars annually. Time charges vary for long or short distances; therefore, for long distances private cars are relatively advantageous. However, the fixed costs of private cars, such as the initial perchance, repairs, and fuel are higher than the fixed costs of car-sharing.

Picture 13: Bus stop in front of Haga-Center by Jorge Ueyonahara

In Hagaby, they started using car-pooling or car-sharing (Berg 2002). Sahmuratli is also suitable to start a car- sharing organization, which will decrease the fixed costs of the local community and increase the sharing values of the village residents. However, it is not

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possible to buy cars to establish a professional car-sharing facility in the village by implementing a big business of car-sharing due to its high costs. Thus, village members and the Eco-Center can come together to organize a car-sharing system in the village. SAH-DER Association can be the operator and can look for the volunteers in the village who are willing to travel in their cars with their neighbors some days of the week for a certain amount of money.

There should be a fee paid by the applicants to the car-sharing system, which can be organized by SAH-DER. This fee should cover some of the expenses of the fuel for the owner of the car. Additionally, it should provide some income for the association to contribute t o its activities as a donation. However, t h e car-sharing fee should be lower than the expense of using a private car. SAH-DER Association can maintain a list of people from the community who are planning to travel out of the village. People can inform the association by reporting the date, time and destination, and local community members or someone from the Eco-Center can check the list regularly to see if there is a travel match on a certain time, date and destination.

Besides the economic benefits, car sharing will increase the feeling of trust among the local community. Traveling with neighbors will also increase communication among local community m e m b e r s a n d promote a safe and comfortable environment. Children can travel with their neighbors to school using the car-sharing system. At the same time, t h e Kerkenes Eco-Center should initiate such an system, which suits the goals of being an environmental eco-center when it comes to considering the environmental benefits of car-sharing. Much research in Europe and the US has shown that after joining a car-sharing system, there is a high possibility that individuals will sell their individual cars, which significantly contributes to decrease in carbon emissions as well (Shaheen, Cohen and Roberts 2005).

3.2 Providing Public Transportation in the Village

Public transportation involves all three main aspects of sustainable development, so it is very significant for the local communities. For the environmental aspect, it helps decrease carbon emissions due to the capacity of carrying more people at once and decreasing the use of private cars. Additionally, it is cheaper than personal driving when comparing oil prices and bus cards. When it comes to the social aspect, regular public transportation provides communities in rural areas with access to essential services such as hospitals, banks, and the market. Therefore, improving public transportation increases local development as well as promotes sustainable development in the rural areas (Criden 2008).

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Hagaby has an efficient and environmentally friendly public transportation system, which increases the living standards of Hagaby residents. According to Berg (2002), more than 90% of the residents use municipal buses for their daily intercity travel. Particularly during the winter, buses are an indispensable mode of transportation within the city. There are regular time schedules for the buses and they run on time every ten minutes during weekdays and every twenty minutes every weekend, which helps to increase the mobility of the Hagaby residents to and from the city center. Moreover, the bus stops are located in the central parts of Hagaby where they are easily accessible.

Picture 14: The bike parking spot in front of Haga Hall by Jorge Ueyonahara

In contrast, Sahmuratli village lacks a regular and organized public transport system. In addition to primarily using private cars, the old headman of the village has a minibus both for carrying the children to the school in the neighboring village and for Kerkenes Eco-Center workers and visitors. According to the legislation of Sorgun Municipality on the Intercity Minibus Transportation, in order to request a minibus itinerary to and from Sahmnuratli village, the head of the municipality and municipality council should agree on the issue. The routes, the first and the last stops, the number of minibuses and the location of the stops are being determined by the municipality as well (Sorgun Belediyesi Sehirici Minibus Yonetmeligi 2010). Thus, initially the local community needs to send their requests for any regular public transportation.

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To improve the public transportation, all community members should join together and write a request letter to SAH-DER association who can then can sign it and deliver the request on behalf of Şahmuratlı village residents. Public transportation will increase the mobility of the local community and will promote equal living standards for every resident in the village by decreasing the differences between the villagers who have their own private cars and those who do not. Public transportation will provide the visitors or customers with regularly scheduled arrivals in the village using routine minibuses, which is also an opportunity for the village to introduce and sell their products. By using public transportation, communication among the local village members will also increase. As for the Kerkenes Eco-Center, increasing the number of visitors will give increased attention to Eco-Center’s activities which will then spread the environmental ideas and promote people’s ability to observe alternative living methods such as alternative education in the primary school, alternative energy usage and basic paper production. Public transportation will a l s o increase the mobility of the local community and will promote equal living standards for every resident in the village by decreasing the differences between the villagers who have their own private cars and who don’t.

4. Organization of Tourist-Attracting Activities: Eco-tourism

Tourism can help preserve the cultural and historical heritage of the region. Furthermore, it can contribute to the economic development of the region as well. Nevertheless, unless tourism is controlled carefully, there may be environmental drawbacks if the physical-natural resources of the region are overused (ESCAP Tourism Review 2001). Sustainable tourism fosters increased local employment, which diversifies the local economy in the region. There are also social benefits of sustainable tourism which increases the quality of life in the community through economic diversification. The local community can also use the created facilities for tourists. Moreover, the communication skills of the local community can increase by opening the region to the world, and the local community can meet people from different nationalities, cultures and religions, which wi l l extend local community’s world view (ESCAP 2003).

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission in Asia and Pacific presented a list of guidelines and principles for developing sustainable tourism in the local, regional, national, and international levels. To promote sustainable tourism in a region, “participation,” “stakeholder involvement” and “local ownership” are the most important principles of sustainable and conscious tourism in a community. The participation principle states that it is crucial to involve the local community residents in planning, developing strategies and preserving the natural resources. Local institutions or volunteer groups as the local stakeholders in the community such as an NGO should be involved as well to provide the necessary infrastructure to improve tourism in the region. In addition, the local community should develop local ownership for tourism, so they can own the essential services. In other

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words, sustainable tourism should generate local jobs for the community residents (ESCAP 2003).

Picture 15: Historical Story Drawing of Hagaby at Haga-Center by Jorge Ueyonahara

The fundamental idea behind t h e establishment of Hagaby was to create an ecological community, which is adjustable and adaptable to the inevitable changes at the local and global levels. Accumulated knowledge and improved technology will change the necessities as well as the preferences of the local community . Moreover, these indispensable changes in the world will definitely have an impact on the local community due to the global realities of our world. Therefore, Hagaby is a remarkable achievement for being ready to adapt t o the external changes while perserving the local cultural and historical treasures (Berg 2002). Hagaby has a diverse historical and cultural heritage within the village. The natural richness of the village is also another advantage for the village heritage. The Haga valley is a rich and productive area so the village has supported agriculture since many ages where ancient historical evidence has also been found from the Iron and Vendel age. Hosting mentally disabled children for 73 years is another social historical heritage of the village. Today, Hagaby contributes by generating the local culture and history of the community and by organizing music and art activities, seasonal celebrations, feasts, producing local products and housing historical monuments (Berg 2002). Every year, Hagaby hosts many tourists and international students who

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experience the physical, economical, biological, organizational, social, cultural and aesthetic abundance of the village, although there is no organized tourist-attracting organizations.

The ethnic village called Karen in Baan Huay Hee in the northwestern Thai province of Mae Hong Son is another example where a “community based sustainable tourism” project has been implemented. Participation of the local community and the stakeholders promotes the achievements of the project. The main goals of the project were initially to increase the quality of life for the local community and to spread the significance of the Karen culture. However, it has also allowed the local community to set goals for the village and to preserve the natural and physical resources of the region. The local community cooperated and turned community based tourism into their economic and natural benefit. The local community in the Karen village improved their quality of life while protecting the natural resources and presenting their own culture to the tourists. They created a local economy by selling village products. By showing the importance of local agriculture in the village, they saved some money to develope the conditions of the Karen village (ESCAP Tourism Review 2001).

Şahmuratlı village also has significant ancient traces, which have been investigated by the Kerkenes Dag Project since 1993. Şahmuratlı village is located just below the Kerkenes Mountain where the largest Iron Age city on the Anatolian Plateau was discovered (Kerkenes News 1998). Much archeological evidence has shown that the city was founded by the Medes and demolished by Lydia after 50 years. The city was surrounded by strong city walls, which were around 7 km. A palace structure monument which was seen in the early Iranian samples was also discovered (Kerkenes News, 2000). The project, substantially was supported by the Institute of English Archeology in Ankara. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has been supported the archeological team both from Chicago University and METU, and provided a museum in the Kerkenes Eco-Center where the discovered pieces are presented under the control of the Ministry. In 2008, more ancient pieces were discovered such as Iron Age metals and a Seljuk Coin of Sultan Keyhusrev II (Kerkenes News 2008). These items have helped make Sahmuratli attractive to visitors.

Although Hagaby does not have initiatives for community based tourism, it represents a sustainable community with a strong cultural and historical inheritance. The short background of the Kerkenes Dag Project in Sahmuratli summarizes the historical value of the village. Furthermore, interested researchers are being hosted and practice different resources of the village in the Kerkenes Eco-Center. Thus, the tourism attracting activities should not be limited to the small scale of researchers but should be increased by the participation of the local community as well as the stakeholders. The Kerkenes Eco-Center is a particularly supportive organization for the village to attract people who are interested in environmental issues as well as

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historical artifacts. It can help the village implement community based sustainable tourism like the Karen village in Thailand.

Sahmuratli can create a combination of the Hagaby and Karen village cases. Environmental demonstrations in the Kerkenes Eco-Center are promising for unique and recently popular touristic facilities. The archeological studies can help promote the attractiveness of the village with exhibiting historical items in a museum in the Kerkenes Eco-Center. Yozgat, where many historical items can also be found very close, gives the visitors another chance to discover more about the history of the area. Finally, the natural beauty of the region with Kerkenes Mountain and the valley behind it supports this attractiveness of the village. Thus, the village has enough reserves to be involved in community based sustainable tourism. The main issue is participation of the local community, the Kerkenes Eco-Center and the SAH-DER Association by cooperating with each other.

This proposed program also requires a renovation project of the old primary school which needs to be organized systematically and funded in the early years in order to implement tourism. The program must first introduce touristic opportunities in Sahmuratli village. The Kerkenes Eco-Center has the potential to spread the touristic activities in the village using various methods. The stakeholders of the Kerkenes Eco-Center project as well as the sponsors could promote sustainable tourism in Sahmuratli. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism would also be interested in introducing the hidden treasures in Turkey to the world.

The villageres should be trained by specialists on the issue through several workshops and conferences. The renovated primary school is the best place to organize such training because it is free and would be a contribution to village activities. Considering the theories “regional economies” and “marketing of the local products,” the local community should be organized to create local employment in the village during tourist season. More products should be produced with more advanced packaging and preparation. Every part of the village and the Eco-Center should be used to highlight the whole village with its historical, cultural and physical resources to the visitors. As for accommodations of the visitors, the Kerkenes Eco-Center has some dorms for the researchers; however, they are not enough for big tourist groups. Hence, the school can initially be designed as a guest house. Since the visitors will likely support sustainability, they will understand the living conditions in the village. In other words, people will understand that they are visiting a developing village; therefore, they would not mind staying in a school. However, later the villagers can build more straw bale houses in the village which they can be used as “sustainable motels.” This initiative highly depends on the income from tourism for the village and it is also a matter of time.

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Picture 16: Professor Per Berg is talking about the history of Hagaby at the museum by Jorge Ueyonahara

There is also an essential need for a “visiting program” whereby a committee can plan the holiday activities of visitors. For example, the first day can be planned as sightseeing and visiting the museum in the village with an expert tour guide from the Kerkenes Eco-Center. During the tourist season in the summer when it is warm, there can be additional activities organized such as festivals and folk dances consisting of regional customs and traditions. The Kerkenes Eco-Center can organize meals, which are made from the Kerkenes products which will also encourage visitors to buy the local village products. Income of these activities should be distributed equally among the workers of this organization, and the rest should be saved for the association to support the following year’s tourism budget and future projects.

As a result, community based sustainable tourism is an initiative that will increase the social integration of the local community with the Kerkenes Eco-Center. It will also provide an alternative employment opportunity to the local community, which will increase their willingness to work in the Eco-Center, and improve the sustainable community development by investing in

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natural and social capital. Moreover, the community will benefit from the income of sustainable tourism. Such a program has not been done before in the village; thus, it will also increase the communication skills and awareness of people from other nationalities about the local community. Apart from the economic and social contributions of this program, Şahmuratlı village and its academic demonstrations will be acknowledged by the world, which may increase the reputation of the village.

Picture 17: A fair organized at Kerkenes-Eco-Center and project coordinator Francoise Summers is explaining how the products have been made to the international visitors from Kerkenes Archives

4.1 Organization of Summer Camps for Youth and Interested ResearchersIn the “Sustainable Community” theory, investing in human capital is as important as the other capital for developing sustainable communities. Accumulation of knowledge about and experiences with sustainability issues are the fundamental facts in human capital (Roseland 2005). Education for sustainable development is a crucial investment to teach children who are also the heritags for future generations. Education teaches basic insights on the main sustainability issues, which are environmental, economic and social equity (Bhandari and Abe 2003). Furthermore, education for sustainable development relates to each discipline for environmental, economic and social issues at the local, regional and global levels (Bhandari and Abe 2003). This new approach teaches the children and integrates parents, communities, and governments in the education process (Bhandari and Abe 2003). Organization of summer camps and programs on sustainability issues can be a part of education for sustainable development.

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The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is an organization in Turkmenistan which supports youth development through education, technology and social cooperation. The Center of OSCE in Ashgabat provides summer camps to the children during their summer holidays or school breaks. These camps have different teaching goals like healthy lifestyles and environmental protection. In one of the summer camps, young campers are taught the methods of protecting Caspian Sea from environmental danger. At the end of the sustainable development camp in Kayrakkum, students were willing to create a network among their friends from the camp, which also helped to develop the social communication skills of the community (OSCE Center 2006).

The Kerkenes Eco-Center already integrates university students with the local community through the organization of workshops for the village children. The lecture called “Architecture in Situ: Hands on Building: given in the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara enrolls village children in an on-going educational program financed by Chevron. Some of the activities are recycling phases of paper and building shelters for the solar cookers (Summers 2008). In 2005 and 2008, Şahmuratlı village, hosted some children visitor groups at the Kerkenes Eco-Center. A group of students from the Classe de Premiere in Charles de Gaulle High School in Ankara also visited the Eco-Center for research in 2005 (Summers 2005). In the summer of 2008, children who were in primary school from the cities Mardin and Van visited the Eco-Center with the project started by METU called “Young Teachers Touch Science (Genc Ogretmenler Bilime Dokunuyor).” and supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK). Students experienced environmental applications in the Eco-Center and increased their scientific knowledge about environmental studies (Summers 2008).

Proposing a “youth summer camp” or “summer programs” for young groups who are interested in environmental issues as well as meeting with people from different cultures and backgrounds will increase the mobility into Şahmuratlı village. Camps or programs can be at the national levels such as group visits from Mardin and Van or they can be held at the international level, which can be organized for foreign students. Both organizations will require experienced planning of the program. Therefore, facilitators in the Kerkenes Eco-Center should be willing to participate in such an organization as trainers since they are all professionals in environmental applications. University students from the Department of Architecture in METU can also be involved in the organization as “camp leaders” or “program leaders.” Participation from the local community is also essential to provide knowledge to the youth about the local community’s living conditions. The program should consist of environmental training and activities in the Kerkenes Eco-Center such as teaching students to learn how to use solar cookers and the benefits of straw bale houses.

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They can also taste food which is cooked in solar cookers and vegetables collected from the straw bale houses. Briefly, a camping program should be a combination of learning and experiencing the village and the Kerkenes Eco-Center as a whole. In addition, daily trips to Yozgat and Sorgun can be part of the program. Implementation of the public transportation system in the previous proposal can provide the transportation service for the campers. Furthermore, the program should allow local community members and the youth to create close relationships so local community members can explain their daily lives. Although there is a need for professional trainers in the organization of the camps, as the inhabitants of the village the local community is also good at teaching the meaning of living in Sahmuratli and working in the Kerkenes Eco-Center.

Picture 18: Straw bale houses can be small accommodation for the future tourists.

Sahmuratli can charge a reasonable registration fee for applications to the programs or camps and the money can be used for organizing the activities and necessary materials. The size of the groups should be 15-20 people to efficiently provide all guests with full participation in the whole program and considering the capacity of the primary school in the village which is the best suitable place for this number of people. Since this is an education camp on sustainable development, the renovated primary school is the best place to accommodate the groups studying environmental, economic and social applications in the village. Moreover, eco-touristic activities

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and the summer camps programs can be combined due to their similar end effects. However, an eco-tourism organization is an opportunity for people to experience unusual holidays. On the other hand, the summer camps for youths are an opportunity for children to discover local environmental and social issues which will have a lasting impact on their whole lives.

Picture 19: Straw bale houses at construction at Kerkenes-Eco-Center from Kerkenes Office Archive

5. Improving the Waste Management System in the Village: Composting and Basic Recycling

Turkey, in general, has a solid waste management problem in both rural and urban areas. Due to the increase in technological investments and the population in the country, waste management has been a significant issue. First, waste production should be decreased; then waste should be separated in order to sort recyclable and non-recyclable materials. Unfortunately, in Turkey, there

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has not been a developed recycling system in either the urban and rural areas. Household waste is mostly being dumped without any operation which needs to be processed through a developed infrastructure which is also lacking. Moreover, people are not well informed about the benefits of recycling and composting (Kose, Ayaz and Koroglu 2007). Hence, waste management needs additional attention in Turkey. However, our essential goal in this study is “thinking globally but acting locally”; thus, implementing waste management on a small scale including developing the technical infrastructure, education and motivation of the societies will be beneficial at the national and global scales.

Solid waste management in Hagaby has been solved with the implementation of two automatic composting machines which are efficient in terms of being easy to use and being in easily accessible for all Hagaby residents. One of the machines called Ale-compost, which is located in the eastern part of Hagaby, was not as successful as the second machine due to the odor and difficulties keeping thr first machine clean. However, the second automatic compost machine called Joraform, was more successful than the first one. It has two containers and a mill; the first container is the active composting division and the second one is used for maturing (Berg 2002). There has been some “sawdust pellets added to balance the high nitrogen concentration with carbonaceous material” (Berg 2002). It takes up to four weeks to complete the composting process which smells like soil, has a nice color and creates well fragmented material and nutrition for the soil. Every resident in Hagaby receives training to learn how to ue the machine (Berg 2002). In Yozgat including the town of Sorgun where Şahmuratlı village is connected to the local municipality, a building for the Solid Waste Disposal Plants Association (Yozgat İli Katı Atık Bertaraf Tesisleri Birliği, YOKAB) was completed in 2007. The population of Yozgat is 458.138 so the solid waste capacity was calculated as 150,498 tons/year (Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Forestry and Environment 2008). According to the records from the Action Plan (2008-2012), there is no special plant for recycling and separating packaged waste. Thus, creating self-sufficient and sustainable solid waste composting, and basic collection of recyclable waste at the local level will help decrease the solid waste of the insufficient landfill in Yozgat. In this proposal for creating a sustainable village of Sahmuratli, an essential and basic technical infrastructure and small applications for recycling is presented considering Hagaby village in Uppsala.

In the Kerkenes Eco-Center, there no developed solid waste management system has been integrated yet. The compost waste from the Kerkenes kitchen where all the products are produced and the dishes are cooked are collected for composting using a basic and natural process. The compost is then used for cultivation and a supporting material for the drip irrigation system. The only applicants of these are the workers in the Kerkenes Eco-Center and the

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facilitators, and there has been no participation of the whole local community for composting and using the outcomes. Therefore, a similar composting machine in Hagaby can be implemented into the Kerkenes Eco-Center where the whole community can receive the training from the facilitators and compost their garbage using the outcomes in cultivation. The machine is very suitable for the population size in the village; the machine and its outcomes are shown in detail in the picture 20 below.

Another initiative should be collecting recyclables. Some of the straw bale structures which were built by the university students from METU have been used to collect plastic bottles, glass and paper for recycling. This opportunity should be used by the all residents who can also learn about the benefits of recycling from the Kerkenes Eco-Center. Since there is no recycling plants close to the village, collected materials in the -Eco-Center can be used for different objectives as it was done to increase the number of collected and recycled glass mineral water bottles and cans. Furthermore, in 2008, during a lecture called “Architecture in Situ: Hands on Building” to university students from Middle East Technical University, children in the village helped them produce “papercrete,” which consists of waste paper, sand, and cement (Summers 2002). These applications can be increased using the creativeness of the local community and the experience of the environmental facilitators in the Kerkenes Eco-Center.

A waste management location can be designated in the Kerkenes Eco-Center. Straw bale containers at the entrance of the Eco-Center are not organized well enough and are unattractive. Therefore, this part of the center can be improved by building additional straw bale containers with separate containers for glass, plastic, and paper. Volunteers from the local community can take part in building the containers. The municipality of Sorgun can be contacted to ask for the recycle containers to be donated to provide a tidy appearance to the waste management location in the center. Additionally, an organic composting room can be built to place the composting machine. The recycling collectors can also be built in the renovated primary school’s garden in order to educate children on the issue as well.

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CLUE BOX- 1

• “wooden frame• sieve with holes of about 1 mm (available in a hardware store)• Formica sheets• rectangular bowl/container large enough to fit the frame • mortar with pestle• jug• collected paper or newspaper• green and dried grass (optional)• flowers (optional)• flat sponge• water” (How to make paper at home : http://www.funsci.com/fun3_en/paper/paper.htm)

Eight Basic Steps: 1. Cut the newspaper (can be any type of paper collected) into small pieces and soak it as long as you can.

2. Using mortar with pestle, crush paper until you get an homogenous paste. (Grass or Flowers can be added into

the crushing which will increase the charm of the paper)

3. Fill the bowl until the half and add the homogenous paper paste. Stir it for separating the fibers in the paper

cellulose, and then leave it to macerate for a day.

4. Attach the sieve under the frame and immerse the frame keeping the face of sieve in the bottom. Remove the

frame when it is filled with the mixture in the bowl; wait until the water is drained.

5. Using the formica sheets, squeeze out the water and using the sponge to collect water under the frame.

6. Carefully remove the sheet without breaking and leave it for drying. (In Kerkenes Eco- Center special driers will

speed up the process)

7. It can be corrected carefully to have smooth and flat sheet of paper.

8. Apply the same process for another sheet of paper. (Different size and shape of frames can be used to have

different sizes of papers)

R e f e r e n c e : H o w t o R e c y c l e P a p e r ( Vi d e o ) : h t t p : / / w w w. m e t a c a f e . c o m / w a t c h / 8 2 0 9 6 1 /how_to_recycle_paper_homemade_letter_paper/ and How to make paper at home : http://www.funsci.com/fun3_en/paper/paper.htm

Picture 20: Solid Waste Composting machine and the outcomes (below) from the machine in Hagaby for 30 household-approximately 100 people by Jorge Ueyonahara

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Picture 21: Children are making “papercrete” from newspapers and used paper at the Kerkenes-Eco- Center from Kerkenes Office Archive

Collected materials for the recycle bins can be used for different functional and practical purposes. Glass jars, which have been thrown away can be cleaned and used for filling with stewed fruits and jams produced in the Eco-Center. Different sizes of jars for the products will not be good for producing the local food in the same standard; however, it will bring variety to the customers who are can choose the size they prefer. In addition, the plastic bottles can be used for planting flowers, which will increase the aesthetic view of the gardens as well as the Eco- Center. For paper recycling, a remarkable paper recycling project in Gambia implemented basic paper recycling techniques at the community based level. At the end of the project, the community had opportunity to have their own notebooks and art gifts from waste paper. The community also produced some crafts from the recycled paper, which were also sold in the markets to generate income for the community (Paper Recycling Skills Project 2008). They produced the first sheet of paper in 2001. In 2005, a small-scale mill was implemented in the community, which produced 50 to 100 A3 size paper per day (ASSET-Gambia: http://

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www.asset-gambia.com/paper_recycling.htm). They also used the remaining paper bricks after the recycling process to burn saw dust for heating and cooking purposes instead of charcoal. These techniques protect the environment and make the waste reusable for the benefit of the local community. They also promote te community education and environmental awareness.

Figure 2: The proposed waste management system at the Kerkenes Eco-Center. The Masindi Household Waste Management Project (2006) influenced the presentation of this figure Similar implementation in the Kerkenes Eco-Center can be very useful for teaching the community the basics and benefits of recycling.

The community will be interested in participating in the process which they have not been aware of before. Especially for children, making their own paper for homework or notebooks will be a very efficient way of involving them in environmentally consciousness activities. Recycling paper will not be as professional as in the big recycle plants. However, since there is no paper recycling plant close to the village, it will be useful for both the village and the environment to recycle their own paper waste by themselves. Facilitators in the Eco-Center will provide the local community with the necessary tools for recycling. They can start with the small scale production; 10 papers per day for instance, but, in time, they can increase this amount by using additional techniques for producing kilos of paper bricks.

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As it can be seen in the clue box below, these materials can easily be found in the village and also can be provided from the collected waste or from the local community members who throw items away. To give an example, a grey water system which is used in the village for irrigation can also be used in the recycling process. At the same time, solar driers can be the place for drying the paper without using an electric hairdryer. An old sieve can easily be found from one of the families in the village. Since this is a free activity, the local community will contribute.

In addition, there should be an initiative to help the local community carry their household waste to the Eco-Center to make the effort worthwhile. Economic incentives such as “deposits or refunds” are efficient to motivate the local community to use the composting machine (Roseland 2005). Taxation or unit charges will not be efficient and can demotivate people with low incomes. Educational promotions and deposits per bottle/kilogram/bag are more motivational for the local community to collect, separate and compost their household waste (Roseland 2005). A “Waste Recycling and Composting Awards Program” can create a competition that the person who brings the maximum amount of household waste to the Kerkenes Eco-Center Waste Management Spot can be awarded with small presents or a specific amount of money by the SAH-DER Association. The award can be given every three months and will promote the waste collecting and composting in a sustainable way. Moreover, working on producing a recycled paper process should contribute to the local workers’ incomes giving them a reasonable wage.

The only concern is finding the funds to buy the composting machine for the Kerkenes Eco-Center. Since the funding has been a significant issue recently, the project will not be able to support those expenses. Thus, external funding sources from previous grant providers or new supporters can be researched. The village budget can increase as a result of the eco-tourism activities and marketing of the local products can provide the financial resources to buy its own composting machine for the Eco-Center. If income generating activities can be improved and can contribute to the village budget and SAH-DER Association, this thesis will have achieved its fundamental goals to an extent.

Discussion and ConclusionSahmuratli village has economic, natural and social potential to be transformed into an ecological village with its school, family cultivation gardens, products, organization and employed specialists in the Eco-Center. As this case study will hopefully contribute to the discussion on the possible solutions for rural development and sustainability in Turkey, these demonstrations and applications will be beneficial for future projects related to sustainability, and the other parts of the country will be inspired from such a project. In this section, the overall discussion of this thesis and the results derived from this case study will be given.

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First of all, interviews and survey were found very useful methods for understanding and measure the community’s opinion. The village itself has been part of the Kerkenes Eco-Center project since 2002 which aims to promote sustainability and increase in the environmental quality and the local community has already been involved in the project. However, the main issue with the village is that people are primarily are concerned about the economic prosperity and income and are not really willing to participate in increasing environmental quality unless it provides additional income. The interviews, survey results and the random discussions with the local community during the field trip demonstrated that the community members are looking for an increase in their economic prosperity and the only way to convince the society for sustainability is through increasing their income which also refers back to the link between sustainable development and poverty. Increase in wealth promotes sustainability because the local community will be more able to accomplish their primary needs and be more open for environmental application at Kerkenes Eco- Center. Marketing of the local products is an important initiative for creating local economy and providing additional income for the community in Sahmuratli village.

Hagaby is a very successful case which already has accomplished the economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainable community development. Thus, taking the applications in Hagaby into account and directly applying them in another region or country might be problematic since Hagaby has its own natural and social dynamics. In my opinion, cultural and social dimensions of PEBOSCA in community development is very important because the local culture and social interaction within the local community are the main components of the community dynamics. Community dynamics, in other words, is how the external implications (environmental, social or economic) are internalized within that local population. Therefore, direct implementations of Hagaby village’s sustainable applications can face some difficulties in Sahmuratli village. Furthermore, Sahmuralti lacks of sufficient infrastructure and there are economic differences compared to Hagaby which supports the theory “Sustainable Community Development”. There are considerable differences between two villages in terms of community capital; hence, the applications to reach sustainability is expected to be different in different places.

The proposed programs for Sahmuratli village were inspired from the successful applications in Hagaby and were proposed according to the needs of the village considering what has been done through Kerkenes Eco-Center project as well. Project coordinators were clearly aware of the success of Hagaby in Sweden when I introduced them this thesis project and have been already excited about converting Sahmuratli village into a sustainable community. Examples from Hagaby were explained to the local community as well in order to give the people an intuition about this project’s goals. However, this study was very difficult to conduct in terms of explaining and convincing the local society for future possible projects. Financial constraints and

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slow gradual improvements in the previous projects caused the community became prejudice for explaining the scope of this study. Another issue was that the community was very concerned about the continuity and sustainability of the projects after the implementations process is completed. For example, the very first questions arise after I had a discussion with couple of community members were:

“Will I earn additional money during this study is being implemented?” “Will you consider the people over here after you are done with you project or just leave without

looking back?”

Having the goal of revival of the population in the Sahmuratli village and promoting sustainibility, applications in Hagaby was also evaluated according to compatibility with Sahmuratli village. In other words, Hagaby only provided the good ideas about what could be done to achieve sustainable community development in the Turkish case, but the applications hasn’t been directly taken and applied into Sahmuratli village. Therefore, the proposed programs weren’t randomly chosen, instead they were considered in terms of needs and infrastructure of the Sahmuratli village, applicability and sustainability of the programs in addition to the social, economic and environmental benefits. To give an example, Hagaby has community schools (e.g Waldorf School), well established public transportation, clean and reusable waste management and cultural integration in its own community dynamics. Sahmuratli village was in need of a primary school for providing education to the children at the village, good transportation for mobility, waste management for environmental health and income generating local economies (i.e. marketing of local products, tourist attracting activities, eco-tourism).

Measuring public opinion through surveys and interviews were thus crucial in order to understand the real needs of the local community as well as to increase their willingness to contribute the programs offered within this study. The applicability of the proposed programs were evaluated according to the current infrastructure of the village and the programs should be implemented gradually. For instance, marketing of the local Kerkenes products could initially be sold in the closest open market and community supported agriculture could be the next step. Renovation of the primary school is another major need in the village since education is a vital component of development. However, there are significant amount of financial resources as well as labor required for renovating the school. The gradual method is also useful for showing the local community that there are still opportunities to improve the quality of their life in which they can take part in the projects and produce. Nevertheless, the social acceptability of the concept of sustainable community development is an important concept for having progress in the projects. Therefore, the main difference between Hagaby and Sahmhurali village was the society’s attitude toward sustainability which was also the main difficulty for conducting such study at Sahmuratli village.

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In a nutshell, the work presented in this paper focuses on economic and social aspects of sustainable development by promoting community development in the Kerkenes Eco-Center in Turkey. Influenced by Hagaby, a remarkable eco-village in Uppsala, Sweden, various facilities and programs are proposed for Sahmuratli village and the Kerkenes Eco-Center. Field trips, interviews as well as research have demonstrated that establishing these facilities and application of the proposed programs require financial support, team-building, organization, community participation, and time management.

Hagaby in Uppsala, Sweden was the inspiration for developing this thesis study and the Kerkenes Eco-Center is an important initiative for future sustainable community development application in Turkey. Kerkenes Eco-Center with the goal of establishing further environmental, social and economic applications is expected to inspire new projects, activities and collaboration with international sustainable communities. In other words, improvements in sustainable living environment with such projects will foster further investment in community capital at the local level which become powerful at the national and international levels. Since this study aimed to propose various programs for improving the quality of life (social and economic conditions) in the village, reviving the population and fostering sustainability; little attention was given to the social acceptability of sustainable community development in Sahmuralti village. Future research can focus on the details of the social dimensions of sustainability and measure society’s willingness to support and contribute such programs for their living environment.

Strengths and WeaknessesDuring research for this thesis project, various strengths and weaknesses emerged for implementing such an ecological village from Sweden into a non-sustainable village . The strengths include the existence of the Kerkenes Eco-Center in Şahmuratlı village which was very useful to start writing the proposal program to implement an ecological village. The Kerkenes Eco-Center also allowed me to communicate directly with the villagers, the Kerkenes Association, and the previous headman of the village. These members have all been significant stakeholders in the implementation of this project. In addition, environmental demonstrations such as solar cookers have already been established in the Eco-Center, which provided the study with the environmental aspects of sustainability. Apart from the Eco-Center, the archeological research conducted by specialists in Kerkenes Mountain has increased the reputation of this village so every year tourists, academicians and students visit the village. Furthermore, having a chance to work in the Ankara office of the project has increased the opportunity to access correct data and publications, as well as access to interested professionals.

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The weaknesses of this study are that more field trips could have been conducted to the village. Several study trips were organized; but unfortunately they were not often enough to observe the impacts or results more carefully. Furthermore, application of the survey was very difficult due to the political situation in the village, which sometimes jeopardized the collection of reliable answers. In addition, the rest of the society was complaining about the welfare of their families, so it was difficult to convince the villagers that an ecological lifestyle would increase their wealth and lifestyle conditions.

Another problem is that the Eco-Center in the village has not been legally registered in the Turkish legislation, which has created a problem for future projects and facilities. Since bureaucracy and formalities take a long time in Turkey, and it slows down the economic and social activities in the village. Selling the products, for instance, is an issue due to the required legal license from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Since the village still has not been registered, the Ministry can not issue this license. Therefore, this study focuses on trying to overcome such problems and attempts to find some other solutions to support the revival of the population and economic development in the village.

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Summers, Geoffrey; Summers, Françoise and Branting, Scott 2004, “Kerkenes Eco-Center”,Kerkenes News, METU Press, Yozgat- Sorgun, November, Ankara.

Summers, Geoffrey and Summers, Francoise 2003, “Kerkenes Eco-Center”, Kerkenes News,METU Press, Yozgat- Sorgun, July, Ankara.

Summers, Francoise 2002, “Kerkenes Eco-Center: A Report on the 2002 Program”, MiddleEast Technical University, The Faculty of Architecture, Ankara, Turkey.

Summers, Geoffrey and Summers, Francoise 2000, “Phase 1: 1993- 1997, viewed 3 August 2010.http://kerkenes.metu.edu.tr/kerk1//12propub/kerknews/1998/phase1en.htm

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Swann, Robert and Witt, Susan 1997, “Local Currencies: Catalysts for Sustainable RegionalEconomics”, in Hildegarde Hannum (ed) People, Land and Community: Collected E. FSchumacher Society Lectures, Yale University Press, 120- 132.

UNEP 2002, “Capacity Building for Sustainable Development: An overview of UNEPenvironmental capacity development initiatives.”, December, ISBN: 92-807-2266-2, viewed 15July 2010. http://www.unep.org/Pdf/Capacity_building.pdf

United Nations General Assembly Rio de Janeiro 2000, Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, 3-14 June, UN department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) , viewed 10 July 2010. http://www.un.org/documents/ga/conf151/aconf15126-1annex1.htm65

United Nation Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific Bangkok 2001,“Managing Sustainable Tourism Development”, ESCAP Tourism Review, UN Publication,New York, No: 22, viewed 15 July 2010. http://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/2004winners/MESCOT/managingsustainabletourism.pdf

US Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Marketing Service 2010, Farmers’ Markets andLocal Food Marketing, viewed 18 July 2010. http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/farmersmarkets

USDA 2010, “Farmers Markets Services”, Agricultural Marketing Service, USA, viewed 24Jul y 2010. http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile? dDocName=STELPRDC5080175&acct=frmrdirmkt

XE Quick Currency Converter 1995, viewed 10 August 2010. http://www.xe.com.

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AppendicesPEBOSCA Analysis for Kerkenes Eco-Center and Hagaby

PEBOSCA Table HAGABYIntegration to the Sahmuratli Village and the Kerkenes Eco-

CenterPhysical Resources: Implementation of water management, energy efficiency, and technical development on renewable energy

Local composting machines provide efficient solid waste management.

Local composting and recycling applications will increase the protection of physical resources.

Economic Resources: energy-saving costs, common property rights, natural capital in monetary terms

The local shop Tant Grons Skafferi in Haga Hallen provides the community with developing regional economies in the village.

Marketing of Kerkenes Ecological Products in the open markets, and during the camps, visits of the tourists and academicians will create regional economies.

Biological Resources: creating green areas, decreasing the industrialization impacts on biodiversity

Agricultural valleys give the additional beauty to the village, and the road connection from the forest to Hagaby provides a natural atmosphere.

Beautiful vineyards and valleys are the biological beauty of the village.

Organizational Resources: Implementing efficient and green transportation systems

Regular municipal buses, basic car-sharing networks and the well-organized, safe bicycle roads allow mobility for both the inhabitants and the visitors

Implementation of a car-sharing system and providing regular public transportation system will increase mobility for both inhabitants and visitors in the village and to the Eco-Center.

Social Resources: Promoting security, developing neighborhoods and integration of the local community, creation of community places

Sunday brunches, weekly activities with the inhabitants in Hallen, and schools are the meeting points of the inhabitants of Hagaby.

Participation of the community in the proposed activities such as eco-tourism, renovation of the school or marketing of the products will meet the inhabitants’ needs and there will more cooperation and trust among the local community and eco-village.

Cultural Resources: Preservation of the cultural heritage and promoting cultural properties

Findings from the Bronze Age and items in the Hagaby museum provide the necessary insights about Hagaby’s history and community living.

Archeological research in the village is a fundamental fact in the village to discover the historical and cultural traces of the village. Findings from the Iron Age, which are exhibited in the museum in the Eco-Center are a significant example.

Aesthetic Resources: Designing environmental applications attractively.

Re-building houses and the beautiful combination of all services of Hagaby with nature such as schools, Hallen, houses and green vegetation.

Establishing new structures such as a “compost room” will make the Eco-Center and village look clean and beautiful.

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Kerkenes Eco-Center Brochures, Posters and Kerkenes Products Cooking

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Survey questions and Data

Survey for the Thesis Project: Kerkenes Eco-Center

This survey is being conducted for a research project for Uppsala University in Sweden and Kerkenes Eco-Center in order to improve the projects as well as to collect information about the progress in the Eco-Center.

The information you give within this survey, will be used to analyze the link between Kernes Eco-Center and Sahmuratli Village for proposing efficient future projects. Your answers will not be identified and will not be used as your identity will be recognized.

There are two sections in this survey including questions about general information about yourself and your thoughts about the Kerkenes Eco-Center. Please mark the suitable answer for you!Thank you for your participation.

Survey for the Thesis Project: Kerkenes Eco-Center

This survey is being conducted for a research project for Uppsala University in Sweden and Kerkenes Eco-Center in order to improve the projects as well as to collect information about the progress in the Eco-Center.

The information you give within this survey, will be used to analyze the link between Kernes Eco-Center and Sahmuratli Village for proposing efficient future projects. Your answers will not be identified and will not be used as your identity will be recognized.

There are two sections in this survey including questions about general information about yourself and your thoughts about the Kerkenes Eco-Center. Please mark the suitable answer for you!Thank you for your participation.

Survey for the Thesis Project: Kerkenes Eco-Center

This survey is being conducted for a research project for Uppsala University in Sweden and Kerkenes Eco-Center in order to improve the projects as well as to collect information about the progress in the Eco-Center.

The information you give within this survey, will be used to analyze the link between Kernes Eco-Center and Sahmuratli Village for proposing efficient future projects. Your answers will not be identified and will not be used as your identity will be recognized.

There are two sections in this survey including questions about general information about yourself and your thoughts about the Kerkenes Eco-Center. Please mark the suitable answer for you!Thank you for your participation.I. General Personal InformationI. General Personal InformationI. General Personal Information

Your Age 18-50 50+

Sex Male Female

Number of People in the family including yourself?

0-2 2 and more

Your monthly income* Above Minimum Wage Below Minimum Wage

Level of Education Below Primary School Primary school and above

Do you have any children? Yes No

If you have any children. How many? 0-2 2 and more

Are your children students? Yes No

Number of people employed in the family

None 1 and more

Number of people in the family who are working in the Kerkenes Eco-Center

No 1 and more

II. Questions about Kerkenes Eco-CenterII. Questions about Kerkenes Eco-CenterII. Questions about Kerkenes Eco-Center

Your general thoughts about the Kerkenes Eco-Center

Positive Negative

Do you think the Kerkenes Eco-Center has increased your quality of life?

Yes No

Do you think the Kerkenes Eco-Center has increased your social relationships?

Yes No

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Survey for the Thesis Project: Kerkenes Eco-Center

This survey is being conducted for a research project for Uppsala University in Sweden and Kerkenes Eco-Center in order to improve the projects as well as to collect information about the progress in the Eco-Center.

The information you give within this survey, will be used to analyze the link between Kernes Eco-Center and Sahmuratli Village for proposing efficient future projects. Your answers will not be identified and will not be used as your identity will be recognized.

There are two sections in this survey including questions about general information about yourself and your thoughts about the Kerkenes Eco-Center. Please mark the suitable answer for you!Thank you for your participation.

Survey for the Thesis Project: Kerkenes Eco-Center

This survey is being conducted for a research project for Uppsala University in Sweden and Kerkenes Eco-Center in order to improve the projects as well as to collect information about the progress in the Eco-Center.

The information you give within this survey, will be used to analyze the link between Kernes Eco-Center and Sahmuratli Village for proposing efficient future projects. Your answers will not be identified and will not be used as your identity will be recognized.

There are two sections in this survey including questions about general information about yourself and your thoughts about the Kerkenes Eco-Center. Please mark the suitable answer for you!Thank you for your participation.

Survey for the Thesis Project: Kerkenes Eco-Center

This survey is being conducted for a research project for Uppsala University in Sweden and Kerkenes Eco-Center in order to improve the projects as well as to collect information about the progress in the Eco-Center.

The information you give within this survey, will be used to analyze the link between Kernes Eco-Center and Sahmuratli Village for proposing efficient future projects. Your answers will not be identified and will not be used as your identity will be recognized.

There are two sections in this survey including questions about general information about yourself and your thoughts about the Kerkenes Eco-Center. Please mark the suitable answer for you!Thank you for your participation.Does the income you receive from the Kerkenes Eco-Center make up a significant portion in your income?

Yes No

Would you continue living in Sahmuratli village even if the Kerkenes Eco-Center wasn’t established?

Yes No

Have the things you have learnt from the Kerkenes Eco-Center helped you save money and time?

Yes No

Has your economic standard of life increased after the establishment of Kerkenes Eco-Center?

Yes No

Do you think the Kerkenes Eco-Center is beneficial for Sahmuratli village?

Yes No

Do you think the Kerkenes Eco-Center helps to protect the environment?

Yes No

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Survey for the Thesis Project: Kerkenes Eco-Center

This survey is being conducted for a research project for Uppsala University in Sweden and Kerkenes Eco-Center in order to improve the projects as well as to collect information about the progress in the Eco-Center.

The information you give within this survey, will be used to analyze the link between Kernes Eco-Center and Sahmuratli Village for proposing efficient future projects. Your answers will not be identified and will not be used as your identity will be recognized.

There are two sections in this survey including questions about general information about yourself and your thoughts about the Kerkenes Eco-Center. Please mark the suitable answer for you!Thank you for your participation.

Survey for the Thesis Project: Kerkenes Eco-Center

This survey is being conducted for a research project for Uppsala University in Sweden and Kerkenes Eco-Center in order to improve the projects as well as to collect information about the progress in the Eco-Center.

The information you give within this survey, will be used to analyze the link between Kernes Eco-Center and Sahmuratli Village for proposing efficient future projects. Your answers will not be identified and will not be used as your identity will be recognized.

There are two sections in this survey including questions about general information about yourself and your thoughts about the Kerkenes Eco-Center. Please mark the suitable answer for you!Thank you for your participation.

Survey for the Thesis Project: Kerkenes Eco-Center

This survey is being conducted for a research project for Uppsala University in Sweden and Kerkenes Eco-Center in order to improve the projects as well as to collect information about the progress in the Eco-Center.

The information you give within this survey, will be used to analyze the link between Kernes Eco-Center and Sahmuratli Village for proposing efficient future projects. Your answers will not be identified and will not be used as your identity will be recognized.

There are two sections in this survey including questions about general information about yourself and your thoughts about the Kerkenes Eco-Center. Please mark the suitable answer for you!Thank you for your participation.Comments and Suggestions:

Thank you very much for your participation!

Comments and Suggestions:

Thank you very much for your participation!

Comments and Suggestions:

Thank you very much for your participation!

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Survey Data: The structure of the data collected for the analysis.

Income: Lower than minimum wage= 0-

Higher than minimum wage= 1

Sex: Female= 1-Male= 0

Level of education: Primary level= 0

Over primary level= 1

Opinion about Kerkenes -Eco-

Center: Positive= 1-Negative= 0

Effects on social relations with the

existence of Kerkenes -Eco-Center: Postive=

1-Negative= 0

Relation between -Eco-Center and

economic welfare: Positive= 1 -Negative= 0

1 0 1 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 01 0 1 0 0 00 1 1 0 0 00 0 1 0 1 00 0 0 0 0 01 0 1 0 0 00 1 1 0 0 00 0 1 1 1 00 1 1 1 1 10 1 1 0 0 00 1 1 0 0 00 1 1 0 0 00 1 1 0 0 01 0 1 0 0 00 1 1 0 0 01 0 1 0 0 01 0 1 0 0 00 1 1 0 0 00 1 1 0 0 00 1 1 0 0 00 1 1 0 0 00 0 1 0 0 00 0 1 1 1 10 0 1 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 00 1 0 0 0 00 0 1 0 0 00 1 1 0 0 00 1 1 0 0 00 0 1 0 0 00 0 1 0 0 00 1 1 0 0 01 0 1 0 0 00 1 1 0 0 01 1 0 0 0 00 0 1 0 0 00 1 0 0 0 01 0 1 0 0 00 1 1 0 0 01 0 1 0 0 00 0 1 1 0 00 1 1 0 1 00 0 1 0 0 00 1 1 0 1 00 0 1 0 0 0

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List of Kerkenes Products: (Price in SEK and TL)KERKENES PRODUCTS PRICE (1 SEK = 0.225879 TRY)

JAM:

APRICOT JAM 7.5 TL/ 33 SEK

PEACH JAM 7.5 TL / 33 SEK

CHERRY JAM 7.5 TL / 33 SEK

YELLOW PLUM JAM 7.5 TL / 33 SEK

WILD PLUM MARMALADE 7.5 TL / 33 SEK

STEWED FRUIT:

STEWED APRICOTS 6.00 TL/ 27 SEK

STEWED APPLES 6.00 TL/ 27 SEK

STEWED PEARS 6.00 TL/ 27 SEK

STEWED PLUMS 6.00 TL/ 27 SEK

SAUCE:

TOMATO SAUCE WITH PEPPERS 5.00 TL/ 22 SEK

PICKLES 5.00 TL/ 22 SEK

TOMATO PASTE 5.00 TL/ 22 SEK

DRIED VEGETABLES:

DRIED MUSHROOM 3.00 TL for small / 5.00 TL for big/ 13 SEK- 22 SEKDRIED COURGETTE 2.50 TL/ 11 SEK

DRIED AUBERGINE 2.50 TL/ 11 SEK

DRIED BEANS 2.50 TL/ 11 SEK

DRIED ONIONS 2.50 TL/ 11 SEK

SPICES:

DRIED PEPPER 1.50 TL/ 7 SEK

DRIED MINT 1.50 TL/ 7 SEK

DRIED PARSLEY 1.50 TL/ 7 SEK

DRIED FRUIT:

DRIED PLUMS 2.50 TL/ 11 SEK

SNACKS:

KERKENES PLAIN CRACKERS 1.00 TL/ 4 SEK

KERKENES SOUP CRACKERS 1.00 TL/ 4 SEK

CAKE:

KERKENES CAKE 1.00 TL/ 4 SEK

These products are mostly produced and sold by the Kerkenes Eco-Center.

New products can be added at any time. Kerkenes Office METU, ANKARA

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“Instead of concentrating on mending the

sides of the over grown hull of the ship; get

out of it! Save yourself in a fleet of small

lifeboats”

Leopold Kohr

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