President Tugay announces a new mission for Izmir Planning Agency

Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, Dr. Cemil Tugay, is implementing another item from the ‘Fast Action Plan’ covering the first 180 days of his term. Tugay stated that a new mission has been assigned to Izmir Planning Agency, saying ‘We will plan the present and future of the city in cooperation with Izmir Planning Agency. We will also prepare Izmir’s 50-year Vision 2074 Framework Document.’ Prior to the Local Elections on March 31, Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Dr. Cemil Tugay announced that he will manage the municipality with an agile management approach and restructure Izmir Planning Agency (IZPA), accelerating steps in this direction. Mayor Tugay, emphasizing that planning will be carried out throughout Izmir, said, ‘The subject of planning includes everything that comes to mind in Izmir. What we mean by planning is not only spatial planning but essentially planning today and the future in many aspects. We expect the city’s development, growth, ways to solve problems, and the creation of related policies. Istanbul Planning Agency accomplished successful tasks in the previous period in this regard. Now, we aim to follow the same path but with a more disciplined and comprehensive approach. In other words, we can say that the planning agency has two functions. The first is to address concrete problems and generate rapid solutions. The second is to create a roadmap for the development of the city in at least a 30-year perspective, including the 2050 vision, and facilitate decision-making. We will prepare Izmir’s 50-year Vision 2074 Framework Document through a participatory process involving all elements of the city. We will start by evaluating the current conditions. In short, let’s consider IZPA as the brain. Sometimes it will work on urban transformation, sometimes on planning for new settlements. It will also conduct studies on climate crisis. Besides, collaboration and joint work with many other structures will take place.’
Mayor Tugay also mentioned about citizen participation in planning, stating, ‘There will be structures such as Sustainability Office and Citizen Participation Unit within Izmir Planning Agency. For instance, we will bring the Citizen Participation Unit that we implemented during my term as the Mayor of Karsiyaka to here. This unit aims to observe how people perceive our work and gather their suggestions, involving them in the implementation processes. Let’s involve the citizens. Let’s ask for their opinions, let them come and design together. This unit will also establish citizen juries. It will create participatory design workshops or similar units. Izmir Planning Agency is where we will do these. Let’s enhance our capabilities. We will open a People’s Bread Buffet, don’t we decide? Let’s ask Izmir Planning Agency. They can guide us where to open. Similarly, we can inquire about smart city technologies we will use. From new bus and ferry services, the current situation and expectations, to renewable energy investments, we can turn to Izmir Planning Agency for support and should turn. This is the path to success, it comes from here. Izmir Metropolitan Municipality will be the best municipality in the world. This is our exact goal. We will be the best municipality in the world, no matter what the conditions are.’
Touching upon the approach to be adopted in the city alongside planning, Mayor Tugay continued his words as follows: ‘We want each of our companies, in total our municipality, and then a company, municipality, and city that produce more than what our city consumes. This is our goal. When it comes to energy, we aim to reduce our consumption but also invest in renewable energy to meet the demand. The same can be applied to water consumption. Food is similar. Water, food, and energy are three crucial topics. They are the three issues that will either end or sustain us as a civilization in the future.’