Climate change, earthquakes, floods and extreme weather events make the risks facing urban life more visible. The recent flood disaster in Istanbul brought the issue of protection of cities against disasters and the security of living spaces back to the agenda. Increasing disaster risks bring many issues into question again, from the physical resilience of cities to the preservation of ecological balances, from construction to the safety of living spaces.
Today, when climate-related threats are increasing, the sustainability of urban life, especially in Istanbul, and how the cities of the future will be shaped are gaining importance. Habertürk talked about the risks faced by urban life, the social effects of disasters and the steps to be taken to create safer cities. Dr. İlhan Tekeli and Prof. Dr. Burak asked Hamza Eryiğit.
“THE AMOUNT OF RAINFALLING IN A SHORT TIME HAS INCREASED”
Regarding the flood disaster, Tekeli said, "When we evaluate the last flood disaster in Istanbul, we see that disasters have increased drastically due to climate change. Because the amount of precipitation in a short time has increased and disasters have arisen from this. Moreover, it has become difficult to predict when and how severe these disasters will occur. The whole world is experiencing this problem. Countries are getting their share of this crisis, some more, some less." he said.
“PLANNING SHOULD BE APPLIED EQUALLY TO EVERYONE”
Tekeli said, "Actually, our main problem is incorrect construction. Establishing buildings and facilities on the flood route increases the risk many times. We encounter these painful consequences depending on the wrong location of construction. Crises due to climate change are not the same and change over time. The solution has to be shaped according to the conditions produced by climate change. Therefore, the planning approach remains vital and should be applied equally to everyone. For example, there is a need for sewerage and infrastructure expansion works suitable for the amount of water that will fall in the city in the future and steps are being taken in this direction." he said.
THE ROLE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IN REDUCING CARBON EMISSIONS
Tekeli said, "Today, we live in an anthropogenic period where human impact dominates the functioning of nature. Intensive efforts are being carried out at the global level to balance this effect and reduce carbon emissions (fossil fuels such as coal, oil, natural gas). The Paris Agreement, which focuses on reducing carbon emissions, is also implemented for this purpose and it is hoped to reach "net zero" emissions by 2050. But no results are achieved. Increasing the share of renewable resources such as hydraulic, solar and wind energy plays the most critical role in reducing carbon emissions. "When the use of renewable energy becomes widespread and carbon emissions decrease, global warming slows down and the frequency and severity of climate-related natural disasters such as drought, extreme heat, floods and severe storms will decrease over time." He made a statement.
“HOW EFFECTIVE SPATIAL PLANS ARE MADE SHOULD BE DISCUSSED”
Eryiğit said, “It should also be discussed how effective and efficient the spatial plans are.” he said. Eryiğit said, "Actually, the surface area of Istanbul is 5462 square km. Settlement areas correspond to around 27 percent of the total area. Green areas correspond to approximately 43 percent. Wetlands correspond to 2.5 percent. Agricultural areas correspond to 17 percent. These rates also show that in Istanbul, approximately 10 percent of the area currently indicates an area that can be used for development. If this percentage were to be used in time, this percentage corresponds to approximately 43 percent of the total area. If the 10-square-kilometer area, that is, 540 square kilometers, had been planned correctly and used actively, Istanbul, with a daytime population of 20 million, would not have been squeezed into a 1,300 square kilometer concrete basin. Thus, the absorption of water would have become easier thanks to the population spread over an area of 2,000 square kilometers, and the risk of threat to other wetlands, especially the stream beds in the coastal areas of the city's east-west axis, would have been reduced. "The stress burden of the metropolis, whose construction congestion has been dispersed against other human and natural disasters, such as, could have been alleviated, and people's settlement costs could have also been reduced economically." he said.
“GLOBAL COMPETITION HAS REVEALED ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER”
Eryiğit said, "It shows that the average temperature increase in our world from the agricultural society to the present day has reached 1.1 C and global greenhouse gas emissions have reached 59 billion tons of CO2 (carbon dioxide). It is possible to say that the basis of this pollution is the political, economic, military and technological competition that emerges between countries and supranational regions on a global level. In order to reduce the environmental disasters caused by this competition, the policies that started in Stockholm in 1972 and impose fundamental responsibilities on the states." Since it did not yield the expected results, the Brundtland Report, which prioritized sustainable development, was held in 1987, and subsequently, the Rio United Nations Environment and Development Conference was held in 1992. With this conference, an important mission was assigned not only to the states, but also to the private sector and civil society, and the binding targets for the reduction of greenhouse gases were established with the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, and the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 came to the fore as an important vision document for the reduction of global warming. came out.” he said.
