Sustainable Relocation in Rural Areas: An Investigation in Cukur Village, Turkey

Abstract

Understanding whether individuals are satisfied with their new residential environment is crucial for assessing the sustainability of relocation projects. In this study, the relocation project for the part of Cukur village, under the risk of disaster was investigated. It was aimed to determine the changes that occurred in the living conditions of the beneficiaries as a result of the relocation project, the satisfaction levels of the residents with their dwelling units, lots and the settlement, the reasons of their satisfaction/dissatisfaction and the positive and negative aspects of the relocation project. The data obtained in the survey are based on discussions with the project developers and on the field surveys carried out in the region. The positive aspects of the project are the relocation of the villagers who live under the risk of disaster to a safe area, protection of the social ties between the old settlement and the new settlement, provision of houses with better physical conditions than the old ones, and the fact that infrastructure works required for basic living activities were completed. The disadvantages of the project are the problems caused by the method of payment of the housing loan, the problems experienced as a result of the workmanship errors in the dwellings, noise and natural lighting problems, and the fact that the daily activities of the villagers are interrupted due to the lack of provision of service spaces. Proposals have been suggested to ensure sustainable relocation projects in rural areas.

The Nexus of Climate Change, Land Use, and Conflicts

“…For example, when people have to leave a forest in order to preserve it as a carbon sink under REDD+ or when people move away from coastal areas in anticipation of sealevel rise, floods, or storms (see next section). Planned and organized relocation efforts are a key element of many disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies (see, for example, [28,29]).…”

Spatial optimization of rural settlement relocation by incorporating inter‐village social connections under future policy scenarios

“…Our study approved the significance of incorporating the social connections of farmers into relocation plans (Tian et al, ). We found that the relocation solutions in balanced and characteristic development scenarios can reduce the migration distance and encourage farmers to resettle around central villages instead of the town center (Dikmen, ). As the existing literature suggests, understanding the changed nature of social connections can provide solid support for farsighted relocation planning (Wei, Wei, Cao, & Li, ).…”

“…Systems analysis of inhabitant status, economic incentives, sociocultural features, agricultural production conditions, and spatial accessibility of rural settlements was usually adopted to find suitable relocation alternatives (van Lier, ; Kim, Woosnam, Marcouiller, Aleshinloye & Choi, ; Cao, Bai, Sun, & Zhou, ; Sun, Xu, Liu, Liu, & Wang, ). Since these alternatives mainly highlighted concentrated rural settlements, technical feasibility, and economic justifiability from a manager/planner standpoint (Li, Liu, Long, & Cui, ; Liu, Yang, Liu, Wei, & Yang, ), they were sometimes inconsistent with the will of farmers and thus difficult to carry out in practice (Dikmen, ). To solve this problem, extensive bottom‐up strategies have been employed to incorporate farmers’ interests into the top‐down relocation decisions (Murray, Greer, Houston, McKay, & Murtagh, ; Peng et al, ).…”

Village Design Guidelines as a Tool for Defining Post-Disaster Earthquake Resistant Local Architectural Organization Policies

“…Envanter no: Coğrafi konum: -------------------------------- Afet sonrası iyileşme süresi gelecekte tehlike açığı azaltmak için fiziksel gelişim modellerini değiştirecek bir fırsat sunmaktadır (Dikmen, 2008). Süreçte yaşanan depremler sonrasında modifikasyonların takibi çözümün performansını test etmenin en etkili yolunu oluşturur.…”

“…Earthquake resilient design parameters consist of decisions to be taken at the scale of settlement, building system, building element, and building material. The post-disaster recovery period provides an opportunity to modify physical development patterns to reduce hazard vulnerability in the future (Dikmen, 2008). Monitoring the modifications after the earthquakes experienced in the process constitutes the most effective way to test the performance of the solution.…”