Purpose – Cities and regions have begun to re-shape upon the Knowledge Economy (KE) since the late 20th century and the concept of Knowledge City (KC) and Knowledge-Based Urban Development (KBUD) strategies that draw the path to becoming a KC arose accordingly. Several cities have already adopted these strategies to support economic development and to provide required post-industrial development. Institutional development is essential for KBUD to gather all of the main actors and sources, to organise and facilitate necessary knowledge-intensive activities and to plan strategically to become KC. Additionally, governing KBUD with institutional leadership make a difference in achieving KC status. Successful urban governance requires understanding of comprehensive planning process. The management of the implementation process is stated to be more important than the preparation of the plan. The success of the implementation is determined by efficiently designed monitoring and evaluation (M/E) systems. To become KC and build the bridge between planning and urban governance, M/E phases need to be incorporated into the planning process. Turkey has been working increasing competitiveness in knowledge economy and developed strategies for increasing knowledge worker capacity, providing an efficient platform for innovation and strengthening institutional leadership. However, the planning system in Turkey includes different governmental bodies with an undefined hierarchy for preparation, implementation and evaluation of the plans. Governing the necessary actions efficiently and institutional leadership seems to be the problematic areas for Turkish cities to become KCs. Case study, Istanbul is a prospect KC. The goal of this paper is to prove that the lack of M/E systems in the planning process prevents a city from becoming a successful KC. Design/methodology/approach – This paper will clarify the planning system in Turkey and hierarchical structure in Istanbul Metropolitan Area. The relation between planning system and urban development management in Turkey will be defined by investigating the current plans and institutions in charge of making and approving plans. The study will analyse Istanbul Metropolitan Area plans’ M/E stages. The planning process and M/E existence and applications in the plans are determined by face-to-face interviews with several staff members of governmental entities in Istanbul Metropolitan Area. Originality/value – This paper shows that the lack of M/E processes in the planning system prevents a city to develop effective urban governance and institutional development, and therefore, from becoming a successful KC. Practical implications – This paper aimed to determine the exact stages of Istanbul Metropolitan Area’s planning and governance processes that prevent the city from developing as a sustainable KC.