12. Hazard-Prone Cities and Recent Challenges in the Case of Urban Transformation Experience of Turkey

This chapter focuses on recent development and planning activities of settlements on hazard-prone areas across Turkey. The major contribution is to investigate challenges regarding recent urban transformation activities that the Law 6306 indicates. Those activities were realized in specific areas that were declared as risky areas (vulnerable residential areas) and in specific buildings that were declared as risky buildings (buildings subject to rebuilding) either within or outside such areas. Current outcomes of those activities in the cities, which might be observed by several neighbourhoods, are discussed since most of them could be found to be a bit controversial in several aspects. For instance, such neighbourhoods that are transformed under the Law 6306 are assumed to be relatively safer towards seismic risks after physical transformation processes which aim to create such urban spaces that are made up of so-called seismically safe structures in a city. However, outcomes of such partial changes might probably bring a new set of risk definitions such as additional infrastructural load that might use current capacities beyond their limits, increase in population densities that have negative impacts on the rest of the city and so forth. This chapter aims to highlight the consequences of such kind of transformation processes.