Urban planning profession in society: A reading through the case study of Kahramanmaraş earthquakes

On February 6, 2023, two earthquakes of Mw 7.7 and Mw 7.6 magnitude struck Kahramanmaraş, causing widespread destruction and loss of life across 11 provinces. While earthquakes are natural occurrences, human activities can either mitigate or exacerbate their impacts. This highlights the crucial role of urban planning in disaster risk reduction and post-disaster recovery. The recent catastrophe has raised questions about the legitimacy of planning as a discipline and underscored its necessity in formulating resilient solutions. Urban planning is a fundamental profession responsible for making future-oriented decisions that ensure resilience and sustainable development while prioritizing public interest. Disaster preparedness is closely linked to scientific approaches, political decisions, and societal perception. Each major earthquake reiterates that destruction is not inevitable, and proper planning strategies can significantly reduce the damages caused by natural disasters. This study explores the visibility of the urban planning profession in society following major earthquakes. It aims to understand how disaster events shape public perception of the profession and how different stakeholders, including planners themselves, perceive its role. Additionally, the study investigates how the public constructs its perception of urban planning, how other professional disciplines view urban planning, and how urban planners assess their own profession. To examine urban and social perceptions after the earthquakes and to provide a comprehensive analysis of public attitudes, qualitative research methods have been employed. Qualitative research allows for an in-depth exploration of social realities and the complex dimensions of the research problem. Social media data, personal observations, and document analysis serve as key sources of information. The study utilizes content analysis to assess how the urban planning profession is perceived on social media following the earthquakes. Document and text analysis have been conducted alongside literature reviews to systematically interpret societal perspectives on urban planning. Observations and field research were combined with descriptive and thematic analysis to provide a critical and structured assessment. Content analysis further facilitated the detailed evaluation of collected data. The research population consists of individual observations from the earthquake-affected areas, social media users, urban planners, and professionals from related disciplines. The study examines the perceptual and social impacts of urban planning in Turkey following the February 6, 2023 earthquakes. The findings reveal crucial insights into how people expressed their perceptions and emotions about earthquakes and urban planning through social media. The results indicate a heightened awareness of disaster risks and the role of urban planning, particularly in earthquake-prone regions. The visibility of the planning profession increases significantly in affected areas and cities at high seismic risk. This underscores the importance of continuous awareness and preparedness in addressing current and future disasters. The study highlights that maintaining long-term engagement with earthquake-related urban planning is essential for developing sustainable and resilient solutions.