Speaker
Description
According to UN-Habitat, over 2 billion people are expected to live in cities worldwide by 2050, which may increase disaster risk from devastating earthquakes and growing threats of floods and landslides, worsened by climate change. This scenario underscores the urgent need for local governments and planning authorities to create inclusive and risk-sensitive urban planning practices that support the achievement of sustainable and resilient cities.
The Tomorrow’s Cities Project (Urban Disaster Risk Hub funded by UKRI) was established to engage in integrated, multi-scale, and multi-disciplinary international research and implementation aimed at mitigating disaster risk for poor and marginalized groups in expanding cities throughout the Global South. The project seeks to enhance the capacity of local governments and communities via the Tomorrow’s Cities Decision Support Environment (TCDSE), facilitating a better understanding of multi-hazard risks, their drivers, and the reciprocal impacts of urban planning decisions. Additionally, it aims to improve national and local decision-making processes to reduce disaster risk in future (tomorrow’s) cities.
TCDSE employs a staged process that enables iterative clarification of the disaster risk consequences stemming from urban planning decisions, promoting the optimization of urban planning for low-risk futures. A vital element is the community-based risk reduction approach, which begins with participatory future visioning practices, such as co-produced urban plans and future-oriented exposure models that establish risk agreements in the cities of tomorrow. Consequently, levels of community participation and attitudes are critical for enhancing community resilience, which is essential for mitigating future urban disaster risk.
This study presents the community perspective on the co-planning approach, known as “urban scenarios," within the TCDSE deployment in Istanbul, which was pivotal in shaping the TCDSE framework. The deployment took place in one of Istanbul's vulnerable areas, the Büyükçekmece district, which is also experiencing urban expansion. The study involved six different marginalized groups to establish a community-oriented urban planning approach. A series of workshops were organized with residents and local government representatives to develop urban scenarios that reflect the unique characteristics of these community groups. In this study, we will share the outputs and lessons learned, emphasizing key strategies that highlight the importance of community engagement in urban planning and ensure local ownership to support disaster risk reduction policies.
| Keywords | community-based disaster risk reduction; community perspectives; TCDSE; Tomorrow’s Cities; Istanbul |
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| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
