Abstract

Modern Turkey has been experiencing rapid urbanization and together with increasing technological developments and there is a need to construct more infrastructure facilities in urban areas. In this process, the degree of restrictions to be applied on limited and valuable urban lands, gains more importance. In Turkey, the loss of ownership rights due to the impact of restrictions resulting from the direct or indirect effects of infrastructure facilities is mostly compensated by ownership expropriation or by establishing a continuous right of access on real estates. However, it should be stated that, in general, there is insufficient three dimensional information for the construction of infrastructural facilities. This study investigates the phases for establishing a relationship between urban infrastructure facilities and ownership in the context of the case of Trabzon City Passage Tunnel. In the vicinity of the tunnel, there is a protected area, a settlement area that is open to improvement, and other buildings. Most of the property around the tunnel, which were subject to a loss of value were private ownership and were to be compensated by establishing continuous right of access. In this study, the direct effects of tunnel on ownership are investigated in terms of usage, utilization, and possession rights. This research demonstrates that objective criteria can be used to determine the effects of tunnel on ownership. Furthermore, those situations requiring establishing continuous access rights or ownership expropriation are classified. Lastly, some defective aspects of the existing applications to resolve the property problems of infrastructure facilities are presented with examples from Turkey. 

Key words: Urban infrastructure, tunnel, ownership, rights.