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Urban Transformation in Istanbul Within the Scope of Disaster
Preparedness

legal legislation was arranged on the construction of “public housing” on the
periphery of cities by cooperatives. The prominent legal regulations enacted
in this period, in particular, allowed the creation of public housing areas and
establishment of different forms of structures in new residential areas.

2.5. The Period After 2000

Marmara and Düzce Earthquakes that struck in 1999, causing about 20
thousand of our citizens to lose their lives and destruction of 150 thousand
structures, lead to significant changes in the housing needs of individuals
and became an important breaking point for the planning agenda,
especially for İstanbul after the year 2000 (AFAD, 2022:108; Ergunay, 2011:4).
After the uncontrolled and illegal construction inherited from the
past and the loss of life and property caused by the destruction of areas
unsuitable for settlement, various measures regarding construction and
supervision started to be taken besides issuance of many legal regulations
(Ataöv and Osmay, 2007:68). The 2000s have also been a period in which the
concept of ‘gated compound’ has gained prominence, which is generally
preferred by the middle and upper income group, besides multi-storey
residential areas surrounded by high walls and with private security have
become popular (Ataöv and Osmay, 2007:71).

3. Legal Bases and Breaking Points of Urban Transformation Practices in
Türkiye
The current disaster risk for our country, which is located in an earthquake-
prone zone, has become one of the main urbanization problems and given
rise to the need to make certain legal and administrative regulations in each
period. In order to prevent the loss of life and property caused by earthquakes,
it is required to control of the construction process from the planning stage to
the obtaining of the building permit. In addition to the restructuring process
being carried out in accordance with certain criteria, it has become necessary
to transform the existing building stocks and residential parts of the city in
order to prevent the risk of disasters. Figure 1 shows the earthquake disasters
occurred in our country, which are prominent terms of their destructiveness
and resulting impacts, and the subsequent legal regulations made.

Year 2 / Issue 4 / July 2023 213