The nested hierarchy of urban vulnerability within land use policies fails to address climate injustices in Turkey


Baykal Fide E., Yazar M., Daloğlu Çetinkaya İ.

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND PLANNING, vol.25, no.5, pp.1-17, 2023 (SSCI)

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 25 Issue: 5
  • Publication Date: 2023
  • Doi Number: 10.1080/1523908x.2023.2279059
  • Journal Name: JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND PLANNING
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), CAB Abstracts, PAIS International, Veterinary Science Database
  • Page Numbers: pp.1-17
  • Marmara University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Responsive land-use policy amid climate change in urban settings includes infrastructure transformation and necessitates recognizing community- and individual-level vulnerabilities as well as climate-driven injustices, which are isolated in the existing literature. This paper highlights how climate policies set in the nine cities of Turkey identify vulnerable groups and individuals, and develop land-use policy to address the identified vulnerabilities and climate justice concerns. Employing policy content analysis and expert interviews, we find critical relationships between the identified vulnerable groups, responsive land-use policy, and climate justice. While social-aid municipalism-related vulnerabilities dominate the districts’ climate policies, nature-based solutions (NBS), especially green infrastructure and urban agriculture, emerge as the dominant climate adaptation solutions. The way urban vulnerabilities are prioritized in the climate and sustainability plans put less emphasis on intersectionality and urban infrastructure-related vulnerabilities. With tokenism of justice taking place in policy documents, the plans do not incorporate vulnerable communities in land-use planning. Ultimately, the complexity of responsive land-use policies for cities must cultivate a greater awareness of how to support vulnerable communities practically.