Urban bankruptcy

During the municipal election process, the most emphasized topic is "EARTHQUAKE and URBAN TRANSFORMATION".

Candidates are telling stories to win the citizens' votes with figures thrust into their hands.

The trauma created by the February 6 earthquake naturally increases the appeal of the earthquake card.

God bless them, some earthquake scientists are both warning and frightening the public.

On the other hand, they are making efforts to corner politicians with clever maneuvers to "snatch a consultancy."

In fact, one of the earthquake scientists seems to have snatched the consultancy of two rival candidates at the same time.

At least, the photos say so.

Since our professors earn incomes at the poverty line, we can overlook such acrobatics.

Anyway, this is not the main topic I will focus on.

I am pondering, "How can we overcome the impasse the country has recently experienced regarding earthquakes?"

It is said that more than 1 million residences in Istanbul need to be transformed.

As a civil engineer, I agree when I walk down the street.

Many buildings are out of plumb.

However, we cannot just tear down all the buildings in the name of urban transformation.

There is also no guarantee that what is built in place of the demolished ones will be sound.

There is no point in emptying our coffers in the name of urban transformation with self-taught contractors and untrained workers.

Seeking refuge in God's mercy might be more economical.

Within the transformation process,

Without establishing a financing model,

Without building temporary guesthouses for citizens to live in,

Without training workers,

Without pushing self-taught contractors out of the system,

Without centering certified "Engineer-Contractors,"

this job simply cannot be done.

There are hundreds of buildings around us that have entered the transformation process.

However, because the plans do not match the reality, building construction cannot progress.

Most are in litigation.

It is already impossible to demolish the homes of thousands of people and turn them into tenants.

In fact, there are not that many rental houses available.

If we were to do this with the current stock of rental houses, the estimated transformation time would be more than 200 years.

Just as we say it is finished after 200 years, it will be time for a new transformation.

Thus, since the housing transformation process, on which we spend all our assets and energy, has no value-added economic return, our collapse will be within the realm of possibility.

Since the housing sector, where we load our available capital, will undermine the value-added dynamic goods and product production process, bankruptcy will be inevitable.

Let me write this as a final note.

There is neither enough money, nor materials, nor technical teams, nor licensed engineer-contractors, nor workers to transform one million residences.

I have not even taken into account the asbestos that will leak into the citizens' lungs during the building demolition process, causing them to become cancer patients in a short time.

What should we do?

When we also snatch a consultancy, we will explain what needs to be done, that's all.

After all, we are also academics living at the "Poverty Line."