Social Change and the Education of Urban Sciences

Abstract

The field of urban science, as the newest sub branches in the field of Social Sciences, is also one of the most dynamic fields in its category. Especially the relationship between social change and urbanization has updated the urban sciences literature in an increasing rate. The most important indication of this process is seen in the variance and uniqueness of local services and projects such as urban transformation, restoration and renovation and has had a tangible and practical effect on the daily lives of city-dwellers. On the other hand it can be said that local politics as a means of participating in politics have become preferred over central politics when considering the global urban networks especially as the power of metropolitan cities increase. The principal argument of this study is that most post-secondary education faculties in Turkey, which are expanded all throughout, can be in closer communication and contact with local administration, and such a circumstance gives credence and applicability to the field of urban sciences as a means of practical and effective social change. The increasingly urban world dynamics have distances the administrative systems from centralization; and favors smaller local governance that is doses to citizens at large. This in turn causes "Public Administration" field to gravitate towards "local" elements with respect to its "Public" side and to become defined as such. Increases in the quality, diversity and efficiency of public offerings also serve to improve the technologies and models that come about from this field, feeding back and strengthening this relationship. The theoretical foundations of this study is made by literature scanning, and the aim is to demonstrate that there is a clear increase both in quantitative aspects, like attendance, number of students and related courses, as well as in quality with respect to the diversification of topics and the increase in available literature.