Evaluation of secondary houses on the Mersin coastline in accordance with buildings bylaws

Due to the potential they have, the coastlines have been the most preferred areas for secondary residences, which are mostly used for recreational purposes in summer or on short holidays. This situation has increased the pressure on the coasts, which are considered as a non-reproducible natural resource, and it has led to the emergence of insoluble problems. Coastal areas are regions that need special planning to protect their natural, historical and cultural values. Planning activities in these areas should be carried out with a multidimensional and disciplined approach. Various legal regulations or improvements in existing laws have been made over time in order to protect and plannig coastal areas. Criteria have been introduced for benefiting from the coasts, and it has been tried to ensure that people benefit from the coasts equally. Especially after the 1970s, secondary residences, which increased rapidly on the coasts, caused a unplanned urbanization on the coastline. The dramatic increase in the number of secondary residences caused a construction contrary to the Coastal Law. In this study, secondary houses located on the Mersin coast have been examined within the scope of laws and regulations. In the research, various scientific data and publications were scanned and the necessary information was obtained from the relevant municipality and local administrations.In the direction of the data obtained, the effect of legal regulations on secondary housing development was evaluated. In this study, it is aimed to reveal the appropriate use of ecologically privileged natural-cultural potentials, the effect of laws and regulations in the physical planning process and the importance of keeping them under legal control in coastal areas that have not yet lost their natural-cultural potential, based on the example of Mersin.