Seferihisar Municipality

Seferihisar is a district 45 km away from the province of Izmir. With Urla and Güzelbahçe to its North, Menderes to its East and the Aegean sea to its west and south the town centre is situated 5 km from the shore line. With a surface area of 386km² Seferihisar has 21 neighborhoods attached to it. Seferihisar became the first town from Turkey to join the international Cittaslow network on the 28th of November 2009. During this process Seferihisar Municipality started to make new arrangements in accordance with the Cittaslow criteria. Projects in the fields of the use of renewable energy sources, supporting producers and solving issues with infrastructure were carried out within this time. Along with these projects Seferihisar Municipality focused on supporting youths and youth projects. Projects and services were designed and carried out in the fields of raising the towns economy, supporting the rights of disadvantaged groups for equal living standards and providing them with their rights, protecting public health, supporting youth projects, protecting the local values and geographical aspects of Seferihisar and most important of all producing projects that help create a peaceful and participatory environment to live in. Seferihisar Municipality is also a member of Energy Cities that is a worldwide union working on sustainable energy. Seferihisar Municipality, who serves a population of 30,000 has 69 associations, 14 cooperatives, 2 unions, a total of 85 NGO's which function within the areas of culture, youth, agriculture, sports and art. Seferihisar Municipality also has organizations called Volunteer Team that consists of 279 members and Neighborhood Groups which consist of 65 members who help the Municipality in different activities and projects in accordance with the field of relevance. In January 2012 Seferihisar Municipality opened up two Children and Youths Centres to not only add to their learning experience but to provide the youths with an information source that helps develop the social and cultural necessities that is needed for youths to become socially responsible members of the public. The capacity growth of the youths is also taken into account when the courses are planned. With this in mind, the centres provides dance, chess, foreign language, sports, cultural dances, drama, theatre and music courses as well as many other activities. The participation of the youths in these activities is of great importance. One of the main aims of the centre is to gain awareness of active citizenship and also to provide the youths with professional tutors and specific personalized courses that will positively reflect on the youths personal development.