Coastal Cities Should Be Planned with Sea-Level Change in Mind, Says OMU Expert

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Harun Reşit Bağcı of Ondokuz Mayıs University (OMU) has emphasized that climate change is contributing to changes in coastlines and that future urban planning, particularly in coastal cities, should take potential changes in sea level into account.

Bağcı, a faculty member in the Department of Geography at the OMU Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, said melting glaciers and the resulting rise in sea levels could cause coastlines to move inland, particularly along low-lying shores.

“When planning for the future and designing the cities of tomorrow, we need to take this into account,” Bağcı said. “Especially when planning coastal cities, changes in sea level need to be considered.”

“Glaciers Are Melting and Water Levels Are Rising”

Bağcı said one of the most significant effects of climate change can be observed in glaciers.

“We are losing glaciers; they are melting,” he said. “We know that meltwater enters the seas and oceans and raises water levels.”

He explained that rising sea levels can lead to shifts in coastlines, with the effects becoming particularly visible along areas characterized by low-lying coastal topography.

“What happens when water levels rise? They cause changes in our coastlines,” he said. “This is particularly evident along what we describe as low-lying coasts.”

“Natural Processes Cannot Simply Be Stopped”

Bağcı identified Samsun as one of the Turkish cities with extensive low-lying coastal areas and warned that inland movement of the shoreline could affect agricultural land, settlements, and transport infrastructure.

“In places like these, the coastline moving further inland may result in agricultural areas, settlements, and transport routes being inundated,” he said. “This can also lead to very serious economic losses.”

He stressed that such risks need to be incorporated into long-term urban planning.

“When planning future cities, we must take this into consideration,” Bağcı said. “Sea-level changes need to be taken into account, particularly when deciding how coastal cities should develop.”

Bağcı noted that interventions such as land reclamation and other human-made coastal protection measures may help limit shoreline retreat or water encroachment in certain locations. However, he cautioned that such measures also constitute interventions in natural coastal processes.

“When we consider how natural processes operate, nature is not something that can simply be stopped,” he said.

Adapting Cities to Climate Change

Bağcı argued that planning cities around expected coastline changes could help create safer and more livable urban environments.

“If we take all of these factors into account when developing our cities, they can become more comfortable and more livable places,” he said.

He added that climate policy worldwide has increasingly expanded from efforts focused solely on preventing climate change toward measures designed to reduce exposure to its harmful consequences.

“Climate change is now regarded around the world as a process that is extremely difficult to halt,” Bağcı said. “People and policies are increasingly being shaped around reducing the impacts of its harmful consequences.”

He also pointed to work being carried out in Türkiye by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change to strengthen climate adaptation and urban resilience.

Future Buildings Could Produce Their Own Energy and Collect Rainwater

Referring to provisions related to urban development in Türkiye’s Climate Law, Bağcı said buildings and settlements of the future are likely to place greater emphasis on resource efficiency and self-sufficiency.

He envisaged new buildings designed with recyclable materials and systems capable of producing their own electricity through rooftop solar panels.

He also highlighted rainwater harvesting systems as an increasingly important feature of climate-resilient urban development.

“In the cities of the future, I think newly constructed buildings and residential areas will be designed with recycling in mind, will be capable of generating their own energy through rooftop solar panels, and may also collect their own water through rainwater-harvesting structures and systems,” he said.

“Electric Vehicles Could Contribute to Improvement”

Bağcı also pointed to the growing adoption of electric vehicles as another element of the transition toward more sustainable cities.

“We expect improvements in this area as electric vehicles become increasingly widespread,” he said.

He added that individual preferences will continue to influence the pace of change but argued that governments also have an important role to play.

“States need to take these changes into account, encourage people through appropriate incentives, and introduce the necessary measures through legal regulations,” Bağcı said.