Determination and Evaluation of Landslide-Prone Regions of Isparta (Turkey): An Urban Planning View

Abstract

Landslides represent a significant hazard affecting human life and property and threaten the sustainability of human settlements. They are among the most critical threats after earthquakes in Turkey. In 2020, 107 landslide events occurred in Turkey. Implementing proper policies, strategies, and tools for landslide risk mitigation remains challenging for urban planning institutions. In the plan preparation phase, urban planners and plan-making authorities, agencies, or institutions may overlook landslide risks due to a lack of data or related studies. Therefore, this article aims to develop a novel spatial analysis for identifying landslide-prone areas at the provincial level from an urban planning perspective. The analysis is compared to the approved upper-scale plan, and the results are used to build a more robust understanding of landslide risks for sustainable urban development. Isparta Province is selected as the study area, as it has active landslide areas. The methods used include a literature survey including internet sources, newspapers, plans, articles, and other research projects and a case study utilizing a GIS spatial analysis. The spatial analysis using GIS is based on three landslide inventories currently available in Turkey. This spatial analysis is developed to determine landslide-prone regions by considering thematic layers, triggering factors, and vulnerability inputs. As a result of this analysis, five landslide-prone areas in Isparta Province are determined. When these regions are compared to the upper-scale plan that covers the province, it is found that land use and planning decisions have neglected landslide risks, and urban areas are at high landslide risk. Several specific principles and strategies, such as a spatial inventory database and an integrated planning approach including landslide-prone areas, are stated with a reliable spatial analysis to assess landslide-prone areas on a regional scale, which can be applied later in any city and region of Turkey.