Türkiye Consultation Meeting, organized by MUSIAD with the theme of "Differentiate and Build Cities in the Century of Türkiye", was hosted by the İzmir branch of MUSIAD with the participation of the Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum. Speaking at the program, MUSIAD President Mahmut Asmalı said, "Let's build smart cities, but let's not neglect the hearts of cities. As in history, let's have human-centered and virtuous cities. When we put people first, we will have green cities that are friendly to the environment, nature and animals." Within the scope of the event, the strategy plan for urban transformation works was announced for the first time.

Türkiye Consultation Meeting - TÜİT, organized under the coordination of the Independent Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (MUSIAD) Construction and Building Materials Sector Board, was hosted by the İzmir branch of MUSIAD with the theme of "Differentiate and Build Cities in the Turkish Century". Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum, Izmir Governor Yavuz Selim Köşger, MUSIAD President Mahmut Asmalı, AK Party Deputy Chairman Atty. The program started with the opening speeches of Hamza Dağ, İzmir Deputy Necip Nasır, MUSIAD İzmir Branch President Bilal Saygılı and MUSIAD Construction and Building Materials Sector Board Chairman Cemil Yüksekdağ and continued with the Construction of Cities from Tradition to the Future panel.

In the panel where developments in the field of environment and urban planning were discussed comprehensively, Vedad Gürgen, General Manager of Infrastructure and Urban Transformation of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, Osman Çelik, General Manager of Vakıf Katılım, Member of the Board of Ege Yapı & GYODER İnanç Kabadayı, Architect Sabri Paşayiğit, Board of Directors of Megapol İnşaat Chairman of the Board Selim Gökdemir and Chairman of the Board of İzka İnşaat Azat Yeşil made evaluations.

"When we prioritize people, we will have green cities that are friendly to the environment, nature and animals"

MUSIAD President Mahmut Asmalı, who made evaluations in the TUIT Notice, Build Cities in the Century of Türkiye Program, mentioned the importance of smart and technological cities, and said that the reshaped urbanism approach should not move away from cultural and traditional values.

President Asmalı made the following statements in his evaluation:

Reaching a total of 165 branches and contact points in the international arena, MÜSİAD not only provides added value to the Turkish economy with its more than 13 thousand members and nearly 60 thousand companies, but also leads the development of different cooperations at home and abroad. MUSIAD is a global cooperation and capital platform. It is a development movement that draws its strength from our rich civilization values and Anatolian wisdom as well as from our rich civilization values and Anatolian wisdom. In this sense, it is our greatest desire that the understanding of urbanism we want to build is nourished by our ancient civilization and rich history. Also, we can prevent mistakes from repeating by taking lessons from what happened in recent history such as disasters and unplanned urbanization processes. As Yahya Kemal stated, our three arts, apart from 'state building' and 'military service', are 'architecture', 'poetry' and 'music. Let's not neglect your heart. Let's have human-centered, virtuous cities just like we do. When we prioritize people, we have green cities that are friendly to the environment, nature and animals. Let's equip our cities with technological developments, but let's not kill the spirit of our cities. From our house to our neighborhood, from our village to our city, with the architecture we display, we actually reflect our spirit, vision and sense of being. New generations are also shaped according to this architecture that we reflect and they develop in an atmosphere of high civilization. In the centennial year of our Republic, we are organizing this meeting with the theme of Notice, Build Cities in the Century of Türkiye to raise awareness. Because, as in our deep-rooted and magnificent history, we have ideals for our future. As our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated at the Urban Planning Council, 'Ordinary but uncharacterized urbanization cannot be our ideal.'"

"Every segment should be involved in the processes with a sense of social responsibility"

Cemil Yüksekdağ, Chairman of MUSIAD Construction and Building Materials Sector Board, in his speech at the program, emphasized that every segment should be included in the processes with a sense of social responsibility and emphasized that they want to move forward together.

Yüksekdağ continued his words as follows:

"We are creating the cities we live in together, in the process from individual to family, from family to neighborhood, from neighborhoods to cities. Today, although we are partially distanced from the culture of living together with the effect of the pandemic, cultural and technological changes, we want to live together from the human nature and the cultural codes of our ancient nation, to be happy and sad. In the century we live in, in our aging world, short-lived buildings stemming from climate change, seismicity, consumer society, and rapidly changing and transforming needs necessitate renewal processes in the spaces we live in. The main theme of TÜİT, which we organize today, is not the individual, but rather the individual. It is aimed to emphasize social awareness and to emphasize the necessity of involving every segment in the processes with a sense of social responsibility.As MUSIAD, we, as MUSIAD, take responsibility with the belief that 'we can rebuild the cities we built together again, together' We want to lead the way."

MUSIAD's Urban Transformation Manifesto announced for the first time

Within the framework of the TÜİT Notice, Build Cities in the Century of Türkiye Programme, the strategy plan that will guide urban transformation studies was announced for the first time. The plan, published under the title of Urban Transformation Manifesto, said, "Let's build the cities of the future together with the guidance of the state, the dynamism of the private sector, and the participation and effort of the citizens."

The following items were included in the 10-item Urban Transformation Manifesto published by MUSIAD.

1) We act by recognizing the important role of urban transformation in leaving our cities safe and sustainable living spaces to future generations without losing their identities, and in securing the lives of our people. In this direction, being aware of the fact that urban transformation is a supra-political, vital and security issue, we declare that we will support every work to be done by our state in the development of our urban transformation policies of MUSIAD and the healthy and rapid progress of the implementation processes.

2) With the painful and sad experiences we have gained as a country in the process we have arrived, we know that we need to act with an understanding of urbanism that manages disaster by recognizing nature, not being exposed to disaster by opposing nature. We, together with our members, declare that we support the necessity of accelerating urban transformation in disasters caused by earthquakes and climate change, and taking precautions before disasters, by acting with respect to nature, environment and people.

3) We are aware of the responsibility that history imposes on us, the Turkish Nation. With this mission, we, as one of the country's largest Non-Governmental Organizations, believe and uphold the principle of our state, "With the New Turkey Vision, we will build brand cities that bear the traces of our civilization". We declare that we will carry out awareness activities with all foreign and domestic platforms of MUSIAD.

4) In addition to the aim of meeting the needs of our people in urban transformation, we attach importance to realizing the tradition in our urbanism and architectural approaches and acting without separating the past and the future. In this direction, we want to carry out processes that are suitable for local architecture, meet the needs of the future, and ensure that our people are in place with their memories, habits and loyalty, with our cultural structure that keeps our civilization alive.

5) We see that migration to cities leads to unhealthy and irregular construction. As MUSIAD, we support investment and employment creation, regional development and reduction of migration to cities all over our country. We believe that squatting and unplanned housing in cities can be eliminated with urban transformation projects. We declare that we will support the steps to be taken with public and private sector cooperation with planned and strategic approaches in this regard.

6) In the last 20 years, the transformation of more than 3 million houses across the country has been provided by the state. We are pleased with the ongoing urban transformation works and the social housing projects produced. As the MUSIAD family, we declare that we support the sustainable and progressive progress of our state's urban transformation campaign.

7) With the steps taken, the practices made, the support of our state institutions, especially our Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, and our municipalities, we see that urban transformation has become widespread and the public awareness level has increased at a positive level. In the accelerating process, the projects realized with the cooperation of the public-private sector-citizen create a wide agenda area in the legal plane in terms of containing more than one subject that may be the subject of dispute. We demand that possible disputes be settled primarily with mechanisms such as arbitration committee and mediation, and if necessary, Urban Transformation Specialized Courts are established and dealt with holistically.

8) With the My First Home, My First Land, My First Workplace Campaign and the Social Housing and My New Home Campaign for our low-income citizens, our state with its policy of housing for our middle-income citizens; It shows that it stands by its citizens with the understanding of the social state. We declare that we value the will expressed and, as a private sector actor, we will support this policy.

9) We think that it is extremely important that social housing and urban transformation moves are made with the cooperation of the state and citizens. In this context, we believe that it is necessary to improve the cooperative system with state control and guarantee, and to increase the access of citizens to appropriate credit, to develop the contracting system, thus to encourage quick solution systems. We will work in the MUSIAD ecosystem to develop these systems.

10) Let's build the cities of the future together with the guidance of the state, the dynamism of the private sector, and the participation and effort of the citizens.