Investigation of Probable Impacts on Land Cover Transition in Istanbul Driven by Planning the Canal Istanbul and the Great Istanbul Tunnel Projects

Population growth has caused enormous transportation problems in Istanbul, joining Asia and Europe. As a result, three bridges and two tunnels were built between two continents, and the Canal Istanbul and the Great Istanbul Tunnel projects are planned to be constructed to overcome traffic problems. The paper's main objective is to determine the urban sprawl triggered by the new transportation projects in Istanbul. Therefore, cellular automata-based simulation models were created for 2040 using the SLEUTH Urban Growth Model. According to the results, Istanbul will continue to sprawl onto agricultural and forest areas, and the new projects, especially Canal Istanbul, can accelerate urban sprawl twice as much.