Kent hakkı ve deprem politikaları: Dirençli İstanbul için tematik analiz
Right to the city and earthquake policies: Thematic analysis for resistant Istanbul
Yazar: IŞIL ERÇİN
Danışman: PROF. DR. ELİF ALKAY
İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi / Lisansüstü Eğitim Enstitüsü / Şehir ve Bölge Planlama Ana Bilim Dalı / Şehir Planlama Bilim Dalı
Derece: Yüksek Lisans, 2023
Konu: Şehircilik ve Bölge Planlama = Urban and Regional Planning

Özet:
Kentleşme sürecinin, küresel ölçekte hızlı ivme kazanmasıyla birlikte, nüfusun büyük bir bölümü kentsel alanlarda yaşamaya başlamıştır. Bu durum, kentlerdeki sınırlı kamusal kaynakların ve olanakların yetersiz kalmasına neden olmuştur. Kentlerde işsizlik, yoksulluk, eşitsizlik gibi sorunların kentsel krizlere dönüşmesi sonucunda kentliler harekete geçerek, sorunlarına çözüm aramışlardır. Kentlilerin, kentsel yaşama dair ihtiyaçlarını ve memnuniyetsizliklerini dile getirmesini ve bunları talep etmesini ise 'kent hakkı' sağlamıştır. 1968 yılında Henri Lefebvre tarafından literatüre kazandırılan kent hakkı kavramı, geçmişten günümüze kentlerde yaşanan sorunların içinde umutsuzluğa kapılan kentlilerin, kentsel yaşamın kendilerine bahşettiği hakları talep etmesinin sloganı olmuştur. Uluslararası birçok dokümanda ele alınarak politik karar vericilerin benimsemesi gerektiğinin vurgulandığı kent hakkı kavramı, değişen kentsel dinamiklerle birlikte gelişimini sürdürmeye devam etmektedir. Kent hakkı, kentlerde hangi koşullarda yaşadığı fark etmeksizin herkesin hakkıdır; daha güvenli, daha adil, daha iyi bir kentsel yaşamı gerçekleştirme hakkıdır; kar peşinde olmayan kentin hakkıdır.
Geçmişten beri depremler Türkiye kentlerinde, doğa olayları arasındaki en büyük tehdidi oluşturmaktadır. Depremler, yönetimler tarafından oluşturulan politikalara göre afetlere dönüşmektedir. Bu nedenle kentleri deprem riskine karşı dayanıklı hale getirmek ve kentlilere daha güvenli ve daha iyi bir kent yaşamı sunmak için doğru politikaların oluşturulması büyük önem taşımaktadır. Güvenli kentsel yaşamın sağlanması için ise kent hakkının varlığına ve bilincine ihtiyaç vardır. Bu bağlamda bu tez, kent hakkını temel haklar kapsamında görmektedir ve siyasi otoriteler tarafından verilen kararlarla ve alınan tedbirlerle kentlerde deprem riski karşısında kent hakkımızın korunması gerektiğini savunmaktadır. Kente dair hak temelli taleplerin deprem politikalarının kaynağını oluşturduğu çalışma kapsamında aktarılmaktadır. Bu tez, depreme dayanıklı kentlerin yaratılması için politika geliştirme süreçlerinde kent hakkının gözetilmesine katkı sunmayı amaçlamaktadır.
Tez kapsamında Türkiye'deki ve İstanbul'daki deprem politikaları kent hakkı çerçevesinde değerlendirilmiştir ve deprem politikalarının kent hakkı temelli geliştirilmesi gereken noktalarına değinilmiştir. Tezde Türkiye'deki deprem politikaları önemli kırılma noktaları üzerinden dönemlere ayrılmıştır. Bu kırılma noktaları; 1999 Marmara Depremleri, 2002 yılında siyasi otoritenin değişmesi, 2011 Van Depremi ve 2023 Kahramanmaraş Depremleri'dir. İstanbul'daki deprem politikaları ise, İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi'nin öne çıkan politikaları üzerinden değerlendirilmiştir. Deprem politikaları, kent hakkını gözetecek şekilde temalara ayrılmıştır. Bu temaların değerlendirilmesi için nitel araştırma yöntemi olarak yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme tekniği kullanılmıştır. Görüşmeler, deprem politikalarında rol alması gereken paydaşlarla yapılmıştır. Bu doğrultuda görüşmeler; İBB, ilçe belediyesi, meslek odası, STK, özel sektör temsilcileri ve akademisyenlerle yapılmıştır. Görüşmelerden, belirlenen temalar için çıkarımlarda bulunulmuştur. Bu çıkarımlar ile kent hakkının deprem politikalarında nasıl gözetileceğine dair temeller belirlenmiştir. Çıkarımlar, 'kent hakkı ve güvenli yaşam hakkı', 'mevzuat', 'siyasi tutum', 'kurumsal yapı ve entegrasyon', 'STK'ların katılımı', 'toplumsal katılım', 'toplumsal bilinç', 'afet sonrası süreç' ve 'olası bir deprem karşısında İstanbul' temaları altında aktarılmıştır.
Tezin sonucu bağlamında şunlar ortaya çıkmıştır:
Kent hakkının izinde daha güvenli ve daha iyi yaşamın sağlanması merkezi ve yerel yönetimlerin doğru politikalarıyla mümkündür. Politikalar üretilirken deprem siyaset üstü bir mesele olarak görülmelidir ve kurumlar arası işbirliği yapılmalıdır. Doğa olaylarının afete dönüşmesinin nedenini kadere bağlayan yaklaşım terk edilmelidir. Yöneticiler ve kent toplumu deprem riskine karşı bilinçlendirilmelidir. Politika oluşturma süreçlerine kentlilerin, STK'ların ve meslek odalarının katılımı sağlanmalıdır. Geleneksel deprem politikalarından vazgeçilerek risk azaltma çalışmaları etkin şekilde hayata geçirilmelidir. Kentlilerin taleplerini önemseyen modeller uygulanmalı ve yapılı çevre ile birlikte kentlerdeki toplumsal ilişkileri kapsayan kararlar alınmalıdır. Kent hakkını gözeten deprem politikaları, dirençli kentlerin yaratılmasına ve direncin sürekliliğinin sağlanmasına doğrudan katkı sağlayacaktır.

Abstract:
With the acceleration of the urbanization process on a global scale, a large part of the population has started to live in urban areas. This situation has caused the limited public resources and opportunities in the cities to be insufficient. As problems such as unemployment, poverty and inequality in the cities turned into urban crises, the citizens took action and sought solutions to their problems. 'The right to the city', provided the citizens to express their needs and dissatisfaction with urban life and to demand them. The concept of the right to the city, which was introduced to the literature by Henri Lefebvre in 1968; from past to present, it has been the slogan of the citizens who feel hopeless due to the problems experienced in the cities and demand the rights granted to them by the urban life. The concept of the right to the city, which is discussed in many international documents and emphasized that political decision makers should adopt, continues to develop with the changing urban dynamics. The concept of the right to the city had not been on the agenda for a long time in Turkey compared to the rest of the world. The right to the city entered our urban life in the 1950s, which is considered one of the turning points of Türkiye's urbanization. The right to the city has entered a new era in Turkey with the "Gezi Park Resistance" which is the most significant breaking point in its history. During the Gezi Park process, the desire of the citizens to participate in urban processes increased, they embraced the city, so the awareness of the right to the city became widespread. The existence of the right to the city depends on the citizens' embrace of urban life and urban spaces, not losing their sense of belonging, and in this direction, the awareness of the citizens to have the power to change and transform the city according to their demands and needs. Through the questions of "whose right, what right, which city" asked by Peter Marcuse for the right to the city; it is the right of everyone, regardless of the conditions under which they live in cities; the right to a safer, fairer, better urban life; it is the right of the city that is not after profit.
In the cities of Türkiye, earthquakes have been the biggest threat among natural events since the past. Earthquakes that occur in urban areas and affect a wide geographical area also show their effects in other regions where their physical reflection is not seen and can affect the whole country at a macro level. Earthquakes, especially in metropolitan areas that have become densely populated and industrialized as a result of rapid urbanization, cause great losses in terms of the national economy when they turn into disasters. In the areas directly affected by the earthquake, the people who survived the earthquake, whose houses and work areas were destroyed, suffer in terms of the rights that form the basis of their lives. Urban segregation and poverty can become clearly visible after earthquakes. Earthquakes exacerbate existing urban problems.
Earthquakes turn into disasters according to the policies created by the administrations. For this reason, it is very important to establish the right policies to make cities resilient against earthquake risk and to provide a safe and better urban life to the citizens. In order to ensure a safe urban life, the existence and awareness of the right to the city is needed. In this context; this thesis considers the right to the city within the scope of fundamental rights and argues that our right to the city should be protected against the risk of earthquakes in cities with the decisions and measures taken by the political authorities. It is conveyed within the scope of the study that rights-based demands regarding the city constitute the source of earthquake policies. This thesis aims to observe the right to the city in policy development processes to create earthquake resistant cities.
Within the scope of the thesis, earthquake policies in Türkiye and Istanbul were evaluated within the framework of the right to the city and the points where earthquake policies should be developed on the basis of the right to the city were mentioned. In the thesis, earthquake policies in Türkiye are divided into periods based on important breaking points. These breakpoints are Marmara Earthquakes in 1999, change of political authority in 2002, Van Earthquake in 2011 and Kahramanmaraş Earthquakes in 2023.
Before 1999, the changes made in the legislation were limited to recovery-oriented activities after earthquakes and in this period, it is not possible to talk about policies that are conscious of risk management.
After the Marmara Earthquakes between 1999-2002, the negligent processes in building production became visible with great destruction, and this laid the groundwork for the increase in social awareness and the questioning of the living conditions in the cities in this direction. In these years, developments within the framework of building inspection processes aimed at reducing the earthquake risk have been effective policies for providing safe urban life.
Between 2002 and 2011, the project-oriented approach of political authorities in urbanization policies threatened the existence of the right to the city with the destruction it caused in urban areas and natural areas. The prevailing political approach in this period also directly affected the policies regarding earthquake risk. With the allocation of public areas to the private sector, the areas that could be used as earthquake assembly areas were destroyed by urban rent-oriented projects. These processes were legitimized by legal regulations and prevented citizens from taking action and using these areas for the public good. Practices involving the phenomena such as gentrification, displacement and unidentified living spaces in cities have threatened the existence of the right to the city and urban belonging.
After the 2011 Van Earthquakes, the developments in earthquake policies damaged the right of the citizens to have a say on their living spaces, and their right to housing and property. The Urban Transformation Law No. 6306, which came into force as a result of the Van Earthquake, has been the policy that most seriously considers the earthquake risk. However, at the same time, it was the development that often deviated from its purpose and harmed the rights of the city the most. On the other hand, zoning amnesties that cause urban injustice have been the most problematic policies that feed the earthquake risk by the authorities. These amnesties, which are guaranteed by legal regulations, destroy the security of life in the cities and the fair distribution principle that forms the basis of the right to the city.
After the earthquakes that occurred in Kahramanmaraş at the beginning of 2023 and caused great destruction in 11 provinces, rescue and aid activities could not be coordinated for a long time and the basic needs of the earthquake victims could not be met. The pollution created in natural areas by the building debris formed after the earthquake has also brought the environmental right to the fore. Zoning amnesties, assembly areas opened for development with different urban uses, uncontrolled building production and all other urban mistakes resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of people.
The earthquake policies in Istanbul were evaluated through the prominent policies of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Istanbul's dense population and its contribution to national income will cause national losses in a possible natural disaster. From the works carried out by IMM on earthquakes since 2002; Istanbul Disaster Prevention/Reduction Basic Plan, Istanbul Earthquake Master Plan, Vision 2050, Istanbul Earthquake Mobilization Plan have been evaluated in the context of the right to the city.
The evaluated earthquake policies are divided into themes in a way that observe the right to the city. In order to evaluate these themes, semi-structured interview technique was used as a qualitative research method. Interviews were held with stakeholders who should be involved in earthquake policies. In this direction, interviews were held with representatives from IMM, district municipality, professional chamber, NGOs, private sector and academicians. Inferences were made from the interviews for the determined themes. With these inferences, the foundations for how the right to the city will be observed in earthquake policies have been determined. The inferences were conveyed under the themes of 'the right to the city and the right to a safe life', 'legislation', 'political attitude', 'institutional structure and integration', 'participation of NGOs', 'social participation', 'social awareness', 'post-disaster process' and 'Istanbul in the face of a possible earthquake' .
In the context of the conclusion of the thesis, the following emerged:
A safer and better life in the way of the right to the city is possible with the right policies of central and local governments. While policies are being produced, earthquake should be seen as a supra-political issue and inter-institutional cooperation should be established. The approach that connects natural phenomena to disasters with fate should be abandoned. Managers and urban society should be made aware of the earthquake risk. The participation of citizens, NGOs and professional chambers should be ensured in policy making processes. Traditional earthquake policies should be abandoned and risk mitigation studies should be implemented effectively. Models that care about the demands of the citizens should be implemented and decisions should be taken that include social relations as well as the built environment in cities. Earthquake policies that observe the right to the city will directly contribute to the creation of resilient cities and the continuity of resilience.