Date: 25.06.2024

Place: METU Architecture Amphitheater

Time: 09:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Conducted in collaboration with the University College London (UCL), the Development Planning Unit (of UCL), Aydın Adnan Menderes University and METU Disaster Management Application and Research Center, a hybrid workshop titled "Towards Healthy, Safe and Resilient Cities Across Türkiye" is carried out in METU Architecture Amphitheater on June 25th, between 09:00 AM - 5:00 PM. The necessary links required for the online participants are sent via e-mail. Online registration is required for both the in-person and online participation.

Contact: k.donmez@ucl.ac.uk (Kökcan Dönmez)

"Since the emergence of COVID-19, the world and Türkiye have faced a series of events turning into crises, according to the 2023 Global Risk Report by the World Economic Forum. The "Cost of Living Crisis" ranks first among the risks urban dwellers may face. Cities have become one of the most vulnerable places both in physical and social contexts, bearing the weight of crises triggered by factors such as cost of living, pandemics, and migration due to climate change and conflicts. Türkiye finds itself amidst a multifaceted struggle with regional conflict and climate change-induced migrations in neighbouring communities, extreme inflation pressures of 384% over the past four years, and the impacts of devastating earthquakes in February 2023 affecting more than 52,000 deaths, leaving 2.3 million people homeless, and impacting 16% of the national population.

Within the framework of the World Health Organization (WHO) Healthy Cities Approach, this project aims to bring health more central to political and social agenda of cities and to develop a stronger emphasis on public health in planning and managing cities at the local level. The WHO healthy cities approach emphasizes action to address the determinants of health through equity, participatory governance, and solidarity and intersectoral collaboration within the framework of this approach. Cities develop both urban health and urban health development plans based on their weaknesses, strengths, opportunities, and threats.

Our project aims to bring together local, national, and international policy actors in Türkiye and engage with the Türkiye Healthy Cities Network to accomplish the following:

Expert Pool: Unite stakeholders from public, private, voluntary, and community sectors to shape future cities

Workshop: Engage technical, academic, and political experts in collaborative discussions

Policy Brief: A list of nationally relevant policy arguments on healthy, safe, and resilient cities

As long-term goal, we hope for improvements in the planning and development process in Türkiye's cities. With the outputs of these projects, local governments and planning offices can think about how to implement principles of healthy, safe and resilient cities, thereby reducing the risks of disasters and crises and positively impacting people's well-being. We are aware that this is a significant goal given the current scale of crises, but we place great importance on initiating this project to establish an expert pool and work to develop locally relevant principles."