07/01/2026
Comprehensive Recovery for Antakya is now available for open access on www.ortakakilantakya.com
Following the catastrophic earthquakes of February 2023 in Turkiye, Collective Mindset-Antakya (Ortak Akıl-Antakya) consisting of over 200 experts and volunteers has released a comprehensive, open-source publication in Turkish, titled “Antakya için Toplam İyileşme” in February 2025, offering a strategic roadmap for revitalizing the historic city of Antakya while challenging traditional construction-focused top-down models in favor of a holistic, interdisciplinary approach.
With the intent to facilitate international knowledge exchange on the topic of disaster resilience, the English translation of the book is now complete and available for open and online access with the title of "Comprehensive Recovery for Antakya."
The foundational framework of the book is established by renowned scholar and urban planner Prof. Dr. İlhan Tekeli. Guided by Tekeli’s article, titled "How to Create an Open City Plan," the book serves as an interdisciplinary guide for disaster recovery.
"Comprehensive Recovery for Antakya" examines the revitalization of the city of Antakya through eight distinct yet interconnected thematic areas:
• Memory: Understanding Antakya’s tangible and intangible heritage.
• Administration: Assessing and strengthening governance capacity
• Society: Restoring social cohesion and community well-being.
• Economy: Revitalizing local commerce and sustainable production.
• Transportation: Designing accessible and modern logistics networks.
• Ecology: Restoring the environment and fostering ecological resilience.
• Space: Implementing disaster-resilient urban recovery.
• Heritage: Revitalizing for historical and cultural identity.
Building on these themes, the book concludes with a long-term Strategic Recovery plan, offering actionable strategies for Antakya’s sustainable future.
Produced under the umbrella of Ortak Akıl-Antakya (Collective Mindset-Antakya), the book is the result of countless physical and online collaborations. It aggregates critical assessments of Antakya’s current conditions, proposes standards to guide modern applications, and offers alternative process suggestions to form a unified strategy.
To ensure the findings are accessible to all stakeholders, the book has been made available as an open source. It serves not only as a plan for Antakya but as a vital reference for any city facing the challenges of post-disaster reconstruction.
You can read and download the book from www.ortakakilantakya.com
