The Importance of Urban Agro-Recreation in the Formation of a Sustainable Integral Rural-Urban Environment in Gaziantep City-Turkey

Due to present global economic crisis, many people in cities had to lose their jobs or went for early retirement. Thus, productive self-sufficient areas were designed as agro-recreational sites. Integration of the city with its countryside is undertaken as important issue in the formation of urban agro-recreational areas/activities in Gaziantep city. Such urban-rural areas/activities have growing recreational significance for inhabitants of Gaziantep. This made important contribution to local production of fruit and vegetables, reveals present-day leisure pattern of Gaziantep urban agro-recreational activities. The growing demand for such urban-rural activities has recently created business with special focus on agriculture, livestock breeding and local agro-tourism. Therefore, a concept is growing where families, in highly urbanized areas, can experience rural life in first hand, providing leisure activities and support their living with an innovating concept, where urban parks and city fringe areas can be the engines of a self sufficient urban environment. (C) 2012 International Transaction Journal of Engineering, Management, & Applied Sciences & Technologies.