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Ayça Doğaner

of earthquakes, and disasters of hydrological nature, such as hurricanes,
and of meteorological nature, such as extreme heat. Cities are exposed to
serious environmental and economic damage due to such disasters, leading
to deaths as well as losses in cultural and social fields (Galderisi, 2013: 37).
The concept of resilience stands out in terms of mitigating the losses and
damage experienced in case of a disaster and measuring how fast a system
recovers from it (Ersavaş Kavanoz, 2020: 11). The concept of resilience is
defined as the “resistance, opposition, and endurance” on the the official
website of Turkish Language Association.
Resilience, which is used by a variety of disciplines, has turned into a
concept largely used in the fields of ecology and urbanization in recent years.
It is used in this field to mean the adaptation of cities to the measures that
need to be taken against environmental disasters and the ensuing conditions.
The concept of resilient city considers the city as an entity that is not made
up of physical structures only. While forming this concept, it should be noted
that the city has certain social, political, economic and ideological features as
well, and thus there needs to be more than a reaction against sudden changes
or unexpected disruptions. For this reason, studies concerning the city also
include social structure and in this sense, it would be better to assess the
concept of resilience by considering the cultural, political and ideological
structural features as well (Ersavaş Kavanoz, 2020: 20,21).
Cities strongly affect the level of individual and social welfare. These
effects also include a complex structure with economic, social, institutional
and environmental dimensions. It is possible to say that cities are exposed to
various threats such as climate change, natural disasters and environmental
damage. The preparation of cities against the threats, problems, disasters
and risks they are exposed to, and their capacity to respond and adapt to
these situations indicates their level of resilience (Tuğaç, 2019: 987,989).
Resilient cities are places with public authorities where social, institutional
and economic activities resume after a disaster takes place, and the essential
services are rapidly recovered (Ersavaş Kavanoz, 2020:15). In this sense, the
resilience of a city is seen as the basic capacity to respond to sudden changes
and unexpected disruptions (Vale, 2014: 192).
Studies implemented by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) state that resilient cities have the ability to absorb,
recover and prepare for the economic, environmental, social and institutional
shocks to be experienced in the future. It is also stated that resilient cities
promotes sustainable development, welfare and inclusive growth (OECD,
2022).

67 Journal of Environment, Urbanization and Climate