The Q&A
Düzce Hope Homes, delivers 234 housing units and public spaces for low-income tenant earthquake-victims in Turkey, based on a process of successful legal struggle to access public land; participatory design; and community driven construction. The project is explained in 16 questions…
Following the 1999 Earthquake in Turkey, the tenant victims found themselves with no access to right to adequate housing. The post-disaster reconstruction, driven by the state and the international aid agencies, narrowly defined entitlement around property-owners. Hence, for more than a decade, tenants first had to build their community and a right to housing movement aiming to have access to land, before being able to rebuild their homes. Düzce Solidarity Housing Cooperative for Homeless and Tenant Earthquake Victims’ Düzce Hope Homes Project, under the construction at this very moment, is the result of people’s collective struggle, which entails years-long community mobilisation, empowerment and a process of participatory design and build for decent housing. 234 housing units, a community center, urban gardens, women cooperative kitchen, and public spaces are being constructed at the moment with direct involvement of cooperative members and voluntary support network of designers, Düzce Hope Studio.
Who initiated the project and when?
The project was initiated by Düzce Solidarity Housing Cooperative for Homeless and Tenant Earthquake Victims, founded in 2003, 4 years after the 1999 Earthquake, due to the fact that tenants’ housing problem was never tackled by the state. The Earthquake victims had initiated the first tenants movement for right to adequate housing in Turkey. In order to introduce a new participatory design process, Düzce Hope Studio was founded in 2014 with the help from many volunteer architects, engineers, urban planners, and sociologists.
What is the social and political context of the project location?
In 1999, first on August 17 and later on November 12, two earthquakes hit the Marmara Region of Turkey. After August 17, 18.373 people died; 96.796 residential and 15.939 commercial buildings were collapsed or got heavily damaged; 147.120 people had to move to prefabricated emergency shelters. The second earthquake mainly hit Düzce Province, claiming 845 lives; 4948 people got wounded; 12.939 residential and 2450 commercial buildings got heavily damaged.
Following the 1999 earthquakes in Turkey, there were many initiatives undertaken by civil society to fill the gaps left by government programmes that neither reached tenants who had lost their homes, nor supported livelihoods and social recovery of the people.
Düzce Hope Homes’ project site is in Beyköy Municipality of Düzce Province, the 81st and the newest province of Turkey. It is located in the Northern part of Turkey, half way between Istanbul and Ankara.
What are the housing needs which the project/approach addresses?
Düzce Hope Homes is the first mass housing projects in Turkey fully designed by direct participation of its future inhabitants. Hence, the housing needs have been defined mainly by the cooperative members themselves, with the support of the Düzce Hope Studio. Since the cooperative members were earthquake victims, “safety” is one of the major criteria. The number of floors is also associated with “safety”, hence the buildings mainly have maximum 3 floors. The housing units were expected to serve the particular needs of the families. Therefore, 5 different types of units with further customisability possibilities were designed based on one-to-one sessions with each family. Since the cooperative members have low incomes, the affordability is extremely important, which was reflected on the masterplan design. Having a strong sense of community had paved the way into the design of the courtyard system and community spaces, bringing neighbours together.
Which organisations helped you to deliver this project/approach?
One Hope Association — Voluntary organisation consists of planners, lawyers, activists, supporting urban poor communities going through urban renewal projects and working on labour safety issues. Its members were involved in humanitarian aid and recovery process after the earthquake.
Düzce Hope Studio — A trans-disciplinary design studio based in Istanbul formed after an open call made by One Hope Association. The Studio has been carrying out a participatory design and build process since November 2014.
Beyköy Municipality — Local municipality in charge of zoning approvals and building permits.
Planning and Design Schools (Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul Technical University, Bilgi University, Yildiz Technical University, TU Darmstadt) — Provided technical support and volunteers.
NGOs and initiatives — Center for Spatial Justice, Project Plankton, Studio X Istanbul, etc. provided technical support and help to fundraise.
What are the main objectives of the project/approach and who does it aim to help?
The main objectives of the Düzce Hope Homes Project are:
1) Access to subsidized and serviced land to develop cooperative housing for earthquake victims.
2) Active community participation from an early phase of the project cycle;
3) User-friendly, safe, locally sensitive, contextualised architectural design and construction;
4) Innovative financial models, cost-cutting solutions offering greater affordability;
5) Successful public / communal space interventions, enhancing the community mobilisation and solidarity;
6) Ecologically sustainable, energy efficient, technologically feasible solutions;
7) Programmes that aim for social and economic development of the community, especially most disadvantaged members of the cooperative;
8) Housing approach that goes beyond indoor of a house and aims to create a neighbourhood with a strong sense of community.
The project aims to help the members of Düzce Solidarity Housing Cooperative for Homeless and Tenant Earthquake Victims. Once the project completed, there will be 234 housing units (for over 1000 people). The membership criteria for the cooperative was defined as the following:
- Not to own a property
- To have a low income
- To live in Düzce
- To work one day a week per household at the construction site
- To participate in the design and at the management of the project
- To be in Düzce during 1999 Earthquake
What does your project/approach do?
1) Prior to the construction of Düzce Hope Homes, the Cooperative had initially struggled to have access to public land to develop cooperative housing for low-income earthquake victims. After 7 years long legal action, the Cooperative had succeeded to buy a subsidized serviced land from the Mass Housing Administration of Turkey.
2) Düzce Hope Homes developed via a participatory design process, which allowed on the one hand the strengthening of the community, and on the other hand the maximization of the community input to the design of the housing project.
3) The masterplan and the detailed house plans of the project were finalised by the participation of the community members and officially approved.
4) Düzce Hope Homes established “an open construction site” that (i) is run by the cooperative members; (ii) provides maximum occupational health and safety standards for the workers; (iii) works as a public space for cooperative members and volunteers to socialise, share food, follow up the progress of the construction.
5) As a legal requirement, the groundwork of the 234 housing units / 29 buildings had successfully finalised by October 2016, 2 years after paying the first installment of the land.
6) The Social Center, a multi-purpose community space that will operate as a centerpiece of the project, is being constructed and will be completed in April 2017.
7) Participatory cooperative management mechanism was established based on elected community representatives, which will also act as site management board once the project is finalised.
8) To generate income for the most disadvantaged community members; the Women Production Cooperative Initiative had established and the construction of the cooperative kitchen had started.
9) Innovative cost cutting measures had developed, which lowered the cost of the first phase of the construction from 6 millions to 3 millions Turkish Lira.
How has the local community been involved?
Düzce Hope Homes project is located in the Beyköy district of Düzce. The voluntary designers of the project, Düzce Hope Studio, helped the local municipality to re-design landscape of the local mosque and a public wedding hall, to serve for the local community. Some of the materials required for the construction are sourced directly from the local businesses. After the initiation of the construction, low-income tenants from the local community showed interest in becoming members of the Cooperative. The few extra housing units that was planned to be developed, was allocated to the local community.
Why is this project innovative/different?
Despite Turkish cities are going through mind-blowing urban transformations with extreme amount and pace of construction of housing units, the quality and livability of these transformations is not promising, especially for low-income groups. Contemporary Turkish cities are shaped by the lack of participation of the citizens and the community involvement in mass housing design and construction is minimal.
Hence, Düzce Hope Homes Project is innovative for several reasons:
Participatory — It is the first mass housing project in Turkey that is planned and designed by its inhabitants.
Affordability — Innovative cost-cutting solutions allowed better quality housing for low-income residents.
Social — Understanding of housing as a social production (of a community, public spaces, income-generation opportunities) that goes beyond mere production of shelter.
Democratic — The cooperative management structure, with emphasize on democratic decision-making and control, is unique in Turkey, which do not follow the standard contract for housing cooperatives.
What were the costs of setting up the project/approach and how were they met?
The estimated costs of the project is 18 million Turkish Lira for 31.000 square meters of construction. The costs include:
- Land payments to the Mass Housing Authority (2.3 million in total, 460.000 TL was already paid)
- Groundwork (around 3 million TL spent)
- Rough and detail construction (11 million TL estimated)
Hence, once the construction completed, an avarage unit cost (76.000 TL) will be lower than the cost of the cheapest 2 bedroom flat at the neighbouring Beyköy TOKI Project (110.000 TL).
What are/were the annual running costs and how did/do you pay for them?
Since the construction still continues, it is difficult to estimate the annual running costs. There will be running costs of garbage collection, cleaning, maintenance, electricity for public spaces, running of social center, etc. However, the common spaces will also generate income via the Women Production Cooperative, the organic food market, repairshop and kindergarden; and, part of the income will be transferred to the site management fund for covering the annual running costs. The Cooperative members are also considering to introduce a monthly fee for covering some of the costs.
What are the expected costs for the future and how will these be paid?
The expected costs for the future will be mainly on maintenance of the buildings, and landscaping and gardening. The costs will be paid by inhabitants’ monthly fees and the income generated by the Cooperative.
What is the long term impact of the project on the people involved and the wider community?
Since Düzce Hope Homes’ history goes back to the 1999 Earthquake, some of the long term impacts of this process on the people involved can be already observed. Some of the current members were children when their parents joined the struggle for the right to housing. With this long trajectory of community action across generations, the housing project has empowered those involved in the process. Hence, the consequent steps of the project (the high level of participatory planning and design; solidarity among cooperative members; initiation of a production cooperative to increase the income of disadvantaged members; design and build of a community center; having an open construction site, etc.) could successfully been taken.
Düzce Hope Studio has also been a space of transformative sharing and learning. Architects, urban planners, civil engineers, social scientist, artists, etc. had learnt to work in inter-disciplinary teams, found an opportunity to be part of a socially engaged practice. By organising public events and exhibitions and launching publications, the participatory planning and design experience on a relatively larger scale was introduced to broader Turkish urban planning and design community. At the moment, the members of the Studio receive invitations from other cities and civic initiatives in Turkey to share their experience in the participatory practice.
Düzce Hope Homes, with its empowering history, had inspired all the stakeholders. A number of construction workers had become cooperative members, for the reserve housing units produced. A local bank manager became acquainted with the project called himself “a voluntary financial consultant for the Cooperative”. The project team were invited to Harvard University, UCL, TU Berlin, and American University of Beirut to present the process.
What is the impact of the project on the environment?
Energy efficiency was extremely important for the cooperative. Hence, for the exterior walls of the housing units, 19 alternatives were studied by the experts of Düzce Hope Studio with different performances. Based on the initial study, 5 were chosen to be presented to the community members and among 5 the most efficient option was selected.
As much as possible, the construction materials were locally sourced, to minimize the need for transportation to the site.
The plinth level fills were obtained from a landfill site next door, lowering both the cost of construction and the number of trips of earth-moving trucks.
The cooperative members had permaculture workshops, learning how to produce compost from organic waste and recycling. A community garden was established on the construction site, using the compost generated by the waste at the community kitchen.
Is the project replicable, either in part or entirely, in other locations, cities or countries? If yes, which elements can be replicated and where to in particular?
Yes. The democratic legal framework of the Cooperative can be replicated in other informally developed neighbourhoods going through urban regeneration processes and in housing cooperatives around Turkey.
The participatory planning and design process, with new methodologies developed, can be replicated in different projects, including the housing projects of the State’s Mass Housing Administration. The cost-cutting solutions of the cooperative can be replicated by other low-income housing initiatives.
Overall, Düzce Hope Homes can be replicated by all the other tenants in Turkey, offering them a model to follow: Formation of a democratic housing cooperative; demanding subsidized public land for construction; self-financed social housing; a housing understanding going beyond shelter; participatory design process; and various social and economic programs for social development of the cooperative members.
Has the project already been replicated or inspired other projects locally, nationally or internationally? If yes … how, where and by whom?
The Neighbourhood Union of Turkey, which brings together more than 50 (mostly informally developed) neighbourhoods going through urban regeneration processes in Turkey are inspired by Düzce Hope Homes Project. The Union, representing more than a million low income residents, follows closely and supports the project.
What are your future plans for your project/approach?
Our future plans for Düzce Hope Homes Project are to complete the construction of the rest of housing units in the next 2 years; to start generating income from Women Production Cooperative now; and to allow strenghtening of the community via active use of the social center. We have been organising “open construction site” events for broader public to be part of this experience, allowing them to learn from our experience and participate to the construction process. Now, the Social Center has nearly been completed, our “open construction site” events will turn into an “open institute program”, (1) raising awareness for earthquake preparedness, (2) advocating right to housing for tenants, (3) promoting participatory design of housing, and (4) demonstrating that “housing” is more than shelter.
By sharing the experience nationally and internationally, we would like to have an impact on the housing policies around the world. We want to encourage the policy-makers to provide access to land for tenants to design and build their own neighbourhoods on those land.
