Perception of Environmental Change: Reconstruction of Place after Post Disaster Relocation

Hakan Arslan1, and Alper Unlu2

1. Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, Department of Architecture, Duzce University, Turkey

2. Faculty of Architecture, Department of Architecture, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey

Abstract: This study clearly evaluates the post disaster reconstruction in physical phases and explores how the place attachment formed from a psycho-social perspective. So the new formation of space during the community reconstruction is explored by measuring the user expectations and defining the psycho-social background of the victims. Furthermore, the socio-spatial dynamics of the post disaster reconstruction are evaluated in Turkey — Düzce case study. The case was designed as a descriptive, correlative and relational study. The quantitative data were collected from a questionnaire in order to determine the most important places and evaluate the images of the new and old environs. The evaluation of correlation results clearly shows the victims’ high level of attachment to their old environments. The non relocated victims still protect their high level of attachment whereas the relocated victims cannot reconstruct a high level of attachment as in the old environment though they live 7 year in the new environment. The analysis of the perception of the new environment by the victims shows the lack of use of the old environmental data in the new environment design process. This situation creates adaptation problems to the new environment so that the tendency to relocate from the new permanent housing sites was determined very high.

Key words: post-disaster reconstruction, relocation, place, environmental change