Gökçe KUZEY ÖZDEMİR graduated from Süleyman Demirel University, Department of City and Regional Planning in 2011, and she has a minor degree from the Department of Archeology. Between 2010 and 2016, she took part in the archaeological survey of Isparta and the archaeological excavations of Pisidia Antioch and Burgas (Palaia Knidos). She worked as a researcher in projects between 2010 -2011. She has various certificates from national and international education and research institutions on cultural heritage protection, urban archaeological sites, disaster and risk management, ecology and protection. She started her master’s degree in the Department of Urban Planning at Istanbul Technical University in 2015. In 2019, she received her master’s degree from Istanbul Technical University with her thesis titled “Definition of Emergency Preparation Processes Against Disaster Risks in Urban Archeological Areas, Case of Kucukyalı Archeopark “. In 2015 – 2020, she worked as a lecturer in the Architectural Restoration Program of the Vocational School of Istanbul Arel University, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning. She is currently a PhD Candidate in Middle East Technical University, Department of Settlement Archeology. She worked as a Urban Planner (M.A.) at E Plus Planning Project Consulting Trade. Co. Ltd. and she took place preparing the İzmir Intangible Cultural Heritage Strategy Document and İzmir Cultural Heritage Platform Website. Within these processes, she took charge of academic research, legal administrative framework research, reporting, document design, and preparation of images and maps for the project. Among her fields of interest are archaeological heritage and management, urban archaeological areas, heritage and risk management, climate change and heritage, visualization of archaeological heritage, heritage and human rights and public archaeology.
Defining the emergency preparedness processes against disaster risks in urban archaeological heritage areas
In today’s world, heritage areas are exposed to hazards due to changing natural conditions and human effects. Such as earthquakes, floods, fires, looting, war so on. If these hazards that affect heritage cannot be prevented, disasters and risky situations occur in these areas. Archaeological heritage is affected more than other heritage areas by these factors. Because archaeological heritage is old, sensitive and vulnerable. Archaeological heritage areas within urban areas are called urban archaeological heritage areas, which make up the past layers of today’s cities and they are the areas where we can examine the old lifestyles, cultures, social structures, technologies and architectural features of the past civilizations. When archaeological heritages are stuck in urban areas, their situation may become very dangerous because of both their internal features and process conducted in the urban areas such as infrastructure activities, building activities, etc. We should be prepared for risky situations to protect these heritage areas and to transfer them to future generations.
Urban archaeological sites are affected differently and more by the risks that occur in disaster situations, both from other cultural heritage sites and from archaeological heritage sites outside the city. Due to these features, it is necessary to define disaster preparedness processes for urban archaeological sites within the scope of disaster risk management plans against possible disaster risks, including their unique values and the characteristics of the environment they are located. This requirement constitutes the aim of this study.
Within the scope of the study, in order to understand how the preparation processes against disaster risks are handled during the implementation phase, examples were selected from archaeological heritage areas from The UNESCO World Heritage list within the scope of “ITC – International Training Course on Disaster Risk Management of Cultural Heritage”. To see how disasters, risks and vulnerability factors differ in these archaeological sites, samples were selected from archaeological sites outside the urban area, near the urban area and within the urban area. They are Agrigento Archaeological Site (Italy), Volubilis Archaeological Site (Morocco), Petra Archaeological Park (Jordan), Tajin Archaeological Site (Mexico), Chan Chan Archaeological Site (Peru), and Boundhanth Stupa (Nepal) in the Kathmandu Valley.
In the examples, it was seen that the preparation processes to be done before the disaster, during a disaster and after the disaster were handled according to the steps in the risk management plan template. Within the scope of the new model to be created within the scope of this study, the steps of the risk preparation processes in the context of urban archaeological sites have been tried to be defined, based on this template and the processes before, during and after the disaster. For this developed process, it has been revealed that risk assessments, mitigation measures, preparation and response plans, as well as the stages of the rescue plan should be evaluated together with the archaeological area and its environment, and unlike other areas. It should be examined under the headings according to both Structural, Spatial and Environmental characteristics. It is also emphasized that the measures to be taken should be prepared in such a way as to include technical, technological and political considerations. In this context, using checklists for defining risk factors, the creation of databases for collecting information systematically, defining intervention and preparation processes, and the creation of specialized teams, etc. solutions have been proposed. In the end, it is hoped that using this model may help the preservation processes of urban archaeological heritage areas, managed more successfully and prepared for disaster risks.