Reading Vulnerabilities Through Urban Planning History: An Earthquake-Prone City, Adapazarı Case From Turkey

Abstract

Agglomeration of urban population, inadequate institutional capacity, unplanned urbanization, dense built environment, and industrial concentration are considered as the main causes of urban vulnerabilities against encountered disturbances. Planning decisions which regulate these factors are expected to make contribution to safer urban and social contexts and resilience of cities. However, in developing countries such as Turkey where disaster management is not an integrated part of urban planning process, planning decisions may serve for the construction of vulnerabilities. This study reads urban vulnerabilities with respect to urban structuring led by planning decisions. In doing so, an earthquake-prone city, Adapazari was selected to investigate urban vulnerability according to different planning periods and disaster history. The outcome of this study is that planning decisions disregarding urban risks may not contribute to the creation of a safer spatial and social context with respect to disaster mitigation, rather serve to reproduction of urban vulnerabilities.