Assessing Accessible Open and Green Areas for Emergency Gathering and Temporary Shelter: The Case of Lefkoşa, TRNC

Abstract

This study focuses on the potential of accessible open and green areas (OGAs) to serve as gathering spaces and temporary shelters during emergency response to disasters such as flood, earthquake, storm, terrorism, battle, etc. Specifically, the city of Lefkoşa in Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is studied in this context. A systematically constructed approach is employed, starting with the identification of the Dense Urban Core (DUC) within an 800 m access zone of OGAs and with a population density of more than 260 ha based on the Lefkoşa Urban Development Plan (LUDP). The study then determines the OGA requirements for gathering and temporary shelters during and after disasters, based on the floor area ratio, maximum building footprint ratio and projected population density given by LUDP. As a result of the study, the OGA requirements within the scope of the DUC were calculated to be minimum of 92 ha for gathering places, and minimum of 687 ha for temporary shelters. In this context, the city's disaster resilience index of the city is determined respectively to be 0.46 and 0.10. It is expected that this study will contribute to the integration of urban OGA development plans with disaster management efforts.