Beylikdüzü Mayor Mehmet Murat Çalık, KİPTAŞ General Manager Ali Kurt and Chamber of Urban Planners Istanbul Branch Chairman Assoc. Dr. Together with Pelin Pınar Giritlioğlu, he participated as a speaker in the panel "Urban Transformation and New Reserve Building Area Regulation" within the scope of the amendment made to the law no. 7471, organized by the CHP Istanbul Provincial Directorate.
In the panel moderated by Senior City Planner Cihan Şehla, urban transformation works and the effects of the new regulation were discussed. CHP Istanbul Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik and CHP Istanbul Deputy Özgür Karabat also attended the panel, which took place in the Cemal Reşit Rey concert hall with intense participation, as listeners.
Mayor Çalık said, "Perhaps the most important issue of Istanbul is being discussed," adding, "These meetings should be increased even more. How can we build disaster-ready cities? We need to think about these. We should plan cities in which we will be happy. As a result of the earthquake that affected eleven provinces, we clearly saw that we do not have a culture of living with disasters. We have to analyze what we experience very accurately. "If we cannot do the analysis correctly, rest assured, we will not be able to build the future correctly," he said.
Drawing attention to Istanbul's earthquake risk, Mayor Çalık stated that pre-1999 buildings should be renewed and said, "According to the research of our Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, approximately five hundred thousand of our buildings will receive light, medium and heavy damage. One hundred thousand of them are expected to be seriously damaged. Therefore, the earthquake will not only destroy our buildings. This society will ruin all our lives and dreams and will face very serious problems regarding our future. That's why these processes need to be accelerated as soon as possible,” he said.
Providing solution suggestions regarding urban transformation works, Mayor Çalık said that it is necessary to create living cities and said, “We see that we have no choice but to make the cities we manage resilient. We too are mortal beings. The time we will live in the world is certain, but these cities will continue their existence. Therefore, we have to build better cities for the future too. Our aim is to ensure that the city of Beylikdüzü continues to exist as a valuable city. In transformation, it is necessary to offer people a transformation model that will not strain their economic situation. If we want to offer people a better life in Turkey, we have to give up high-rise buildings. We absolutely have to put forward a new urbanism philosophy in the country. The situation that the current zoning plan system has brought to our cities is obvious. Our people are not happy with the city they live in. "We definitely have to evaluate our housing areas and residential areas with a different urbanism approach," he said.
Assoc. Prof. stated that the ministry's field of action has expanded with the law. Dr. Pelin Pınar Giritlioğlu said, “When we look at what this change has brought, the first noticeable change is the concept of reserve areas. The Reserve Area issue was one of the points we objected to since this law was passed. We do not see that risky areas are prioritized in any way. "It is possible to implement practices that will realize the right to shelter and at the same time establish the right to live in a healthy, balanced and safe environment," he said.
