Partnering with Columbia Global Center, Istanbul CSUD launches Build Back Better in Hatay, Turkey

Devastation caused by earthquakes in February 2023 in the south-eastern region of Turkey underscored the need for better urban risk management systems and protective governance. Immense destruction across cities and towns despite the existence of regulatory frameworks to guide construction and urban development, pointed to the need for a new urban risk management approach in Turkey that is based on a multi-stakeholder awareness raising and capacity building, as well as a multi-hazard approach for risks that are often complex and compounding. Indeed, while Turkey is highly prone to seismic hazards, it is also increasingly facing climate change impacts including heavy rains, heat waves, and drought conditions. This requires that risk reduction and resilience building projects in the country take a more comprehensive urban risk management approach and use integrated planning that also takes into consideration climate adaptation.

The Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CSUD) in collaboration with the Columbia Global Center in Istanbul  launched the seed project  Building back better in Hata􏰄y, Turkey: Co-designing a multi-stakeholder, multi-risk informed urban development approach. This project led by CSUD’s Jacqueline Klopp, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation’s (GSAPP) Ebru Gencer, and International Research Institute for Climate and Society’s (IRI) Andrew  Kruczkiewicz, aims to support dialogues and collaborative research in Hatay, Turkey towards co-developing a comprehensive, multi-risk-informed urban planning and development approach while including the needs of the most vulnerable populations, such as those of the refugees and women and children, for building back better. This proposed project aims to work closely with Turkish partners including the Faculty of Architecture, Mustafa Kemal University to co- develop this comprehensive urban risk management approach that takes into account potential multiple shocks and stresses, including shocks from geophysical and climatological hazards, as well as stresses rising from physical systems, governance and decision-making, and socio-economic processes (Gencer 2020 - Resilience Learning Module; Kruzckiewicz et. al. 2021). Given the historical and cultural importance of Hatay province in Turkey, the project will give special importance to multi-cultural context including heritage of the built environment and the social environment. Read more here.