On the 6th of February 2023, a category 7.8 earthquake struck southwestern Turkey and neighboring Syria, killing more than 50,000 people and destroying about 70 percent of homes in the affected area. Among the hardest hit areas is Antakya, one of the most important cities for the country's ancient history. The Türkiye Design Council has spearheaded a design-led revitalization effort, working with an international and regional consortium of architects, engineers, and NGO leaders and, most importantly, with affected local communities, to shape a future that is both resilient and deeply reflective of the city's history.
Now, two years after the tragedy, Foster + Partners is unveiling the first images of the master plan for the city's urban rebirth, drawn up together with engineering consultant Buro Happold, transportation planner Mic-hub and Turkish firms DB Architects and KEYM Urban Renewal Centre, focusing on a 30-square-kilometer area of the capital district of Hatay province.
The firm seeks to reestablish Antakya's pre-existing features and enhance them, thereby encouraging displaced people to return home. The heart of the community-focused master plan is to improve circulation and open spaces, create new neighborhoods, stratify neighborhoods and improve connectivity between them. Since about 80 percent of Antakya's buildings were damaged in the earthquake, the master plan focuses on maintaining the fortunately surviving structures and creating an efficient and reliable street hierarchy for public transportation, pedestrians, and cyclists.
The master plan's street network follows the current pattern extending from Cumhuriyet Meydani and adds new strategic links that promote walkability. Foster + Partners then identified areas around rivers at risk of flooding and will create green buffers and soft edges around them to provide more space for water runoff while increasing nature-centered public spaces. The edge of the Asi River will become a new river park north of Ataturk Park, with views of the ancient cityscape and majestic mountains, and will provide residents with accessible shelters on the water.
Buildings located in Antakya's 13 newly identified districts, each with their own commercial centers and main streets evoking the fabric that existed before the disastrous earthquake, will be designed to be earthquake-resistant. Constructing simple rectangular shapes in a variety of heights, adequate separation between buildings, and avoiding setbacks and overhangs are all foregrounded.
Public plazas, on the other hand, are designed to serve as gathering spaces for emergencies: sufficiently wide access for emergency service vehicles and sufficient space on the plazas to assemble emergency shelters are both priorities. With their building mass designed to respond to local climatic conditions, the neighborhoods will function as superblocks.
