Urla, İzmir

The district center is located in the middle of the isthmus of a small peninsula which protrudes northwards in the Gulf of İzmir, but its urban tissue is comparatively loose and extends eastwards to touch the coast and to cover a wide area which also includes a large portion of the peninsula. Sizable parts in the municipal area, owned by absentee landlords, remain uninhabited or are very rural in aspect. The peninsular coastline present a number of compounds constituted by seasonal residences along the beaches and the coves and which are administratively divided between Urla center's municipal area or its depending villages.

Urla district area's eastern end neighbors the westernmost district of the Greater Metropolitan Area of İzmir, Güzelbahçe, and urbanization is much denser across that part, contributing to the whole district's average urbanization rate of 75%. With İzmir center (Konak) at a distance of only 35 km (22 mi), an important part of Urla's population is composed of residents, often wealthy, who commute to the big city every day, access to and from İzmir and Çeşme, an international center of tourism at a distance of 45 km (28 mi) from Urla, having been greatly facilitated by the building of a six-lane highway. Urla district nevertheless manages to preserve an overall outlook of a pleasant suburb and resort, and as it extends to the west along Karaburun Peninsula, where it borders on the districts of Çeşme and Karaburun, secondary residences built along the coast or large farms of the interior, as well as native villages, all bearing typical Aegean characteristics, increase in number. To the south, Urla district neighbors that of Seferihisar and the settlement pattern is thinner in that section, with even some empty land, although housing projects targeting İzmir's professional classes start to show a rising interest for that section as well.

There are 37 neighbourhoods in Urla District:[4]

Secondary and/or seasonal residences continue to play a key role in Urla's economy, as demonstrated by the high number of residences (26,000 in all for the district) as compared to its population. Although Urla is keen to upgrade its arguments as a tourism destination with a wider appeal, the number of beds available in its accommodation units remains rather modest at only 185.

Urla's fish restaurants and other local specialties, notably a layered pastry called "katmer" is famous. Urla's name is also associated in Turkey with a particular breed of "okra", red in color, called "kınalı bamya" in Turkish.

While there are no large shopping malls in Urla, mid-size distributors and small commerces abound, especially in the coastal section of the district center. The total number of companies for the district as a whole was 1,812 in 2007. There are four banks operating through four branches in Urla.

In 2006, the district realized exports reaching 524,068 US Dollars, mostly agricultural products with added value. Some marble and lime is quarried but the contribution of mining activities to the general economy of the district is low. The same can be said for industrial activities in general, which are almost exclusively based on agriculture or livestock. The three small industrial zones present in the district center since the 1990s, employing about 650 people, usually house enterprises focused on maintenance and reparation activities.

Agricultural production remains the determinant activity for much of the district. In the district's total agricultural area of 971.5 hectares, 21% of which is irrigable, 36% is accounted by olive orchards and 17% by vegetable gardens. There are about six hundred thousand olive trees across the district. Although fruits and vegetables in general, and citrus fruits, vineyards, decorative plants and flowers (especially chrysanthemum, hyacinth, narcissus and carnation) in particular, correspond for each only to 1 or 2 per cent of the total area used for agriculture, their added value for the district economy as a whole is significant.

Agriculture based on greenhouse cultivation acquired an increasing importance in Urla in recent years, especially in the villages near the town center, as well in parts of the municipal area that are still open for agricultural production. Urla quarters of Zeytinalanı and İçmeler and the nearby village of Kuşçular stand out with their greenhouses focused on vegetable production, and those in the villages of Bademler and Özbek on flowers, the total number of households engaged in greenhouse cultivation (both vegetables and decorative plants) being around 400 according to İzmir Chamber of Commerce figures. The same source cites the figures for the number of commercial enterprises occupied with this branch of agricultural activity as 26, the total area reserved for greenhouse farming as being around 1,500 decares, with 91 varieties cultivated. In Urla there are to date no certified enterprises engaged in organic farming, a new form of agriculture in which a number of new ventures made a name in İzmir city's eastern neighboring district of Kemalpaşa.

17 per cent of the district's land, although suitable for agriculture, is still unused currently.

In livestock breeding, poultry stands well above other livestock, a population of around 2 million chicken and perhaps up to eighty thousand turkey having been estimated for the district. 25 poultry enterprises present in Urla operate as subcontractors on behalf of Turkey's national brands in the industry. The count for bovine and ovine animals in Urla range between 5 and 8 thousand and some small-scale apiculture is also done. 220 tonnes of fish was caught across Urla shoreline in 2007, principally sea bass, gilthead bream and red mullet, the fishing activities being organized around five cooperatives and catering Urla's fish restaurants or İzmir's fish markets. Eleven fish farming enterprises are present in the coastal areas of four villages (Balıklıova, Gülbahçe, Uzunkuyu, Zeytinler).

A beach in Urla

There are 6 stock farms (horse breeding and care) and two enterprises engaged in dog breeding and care in Urla.

There are 16 students for each teacher and 492 patients for each doctor in Urla.

In January 2021, archaeologists headed by Elif Koparal, announced the discovery of the ruins of a 2500 year-old temple of Aphrodite from the 5th century BC. Among other findings in and around the temple, they found a statue piece depicting a woman, a terracotta female head and an inscription that reads, "This is the sacred area".[9] The traces of the temple were first excavated in 2016.[10][11][12]

• Soner Ergençay, Turkish football player
• Duygu Sakallı, Turkish handballer
• Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize in Literature 1963
• Georgios Afthonidis, Greek member of the Filiki Eteria and worker of the Ecumenical Patriarchate

• Urla Artichoke Festival
• Mart Dokuzu Herb Festival

• Limantepe
• Klazomenai
• İzmir Institute of Technology