Sustainable Urban Planning and Disaster Risk Management: Experiences from Kayseri

Recently, the rising incidence of disasters has increased the need for more proactive urban planning and adaptation policies to reduce possible risks. This study aims to understand the disaster risk, urban planning-disaster preparedness obstacles in Kayseri, and to identify potential solutions. Within the scope of the research, an inventory of natural disasters identified as landslides, rockfalls, floods/water inundations, avalanches, and earthquakes were prepared for the city. Disaster-prone areas were identified, and point data related to the disasters were obtained from the service map and plotted on maps using ArcGIS. The prepared disaster inventory shows that there is a total of 98 disaster-prone areas in the province. Although no detailed disaster-related provisions were identified in the planning process until the Fifth Plan period, a total of 2,072 disaster housing units were constructed following disasters between 1967 and 2017. It was concluded that planning processes should include limiting urban expansion in risky areas, evaluating temporary housing programs, developing hazard-focused planning policies, creating a risk assessment database, improving coordination within and between institutions, and including communities in disaster planning.