Abstract:

In this study, place attachment in the Antakya’s reconstruction process after the 6 February 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes was examined. The fact that the academic studies revealing place attachment after natural disaster, especially earthquakes,are quite limited, was the main motivation for the preparation of this study. In the study, in which the quantitative analysis method was used, a questionnaire consisting of 30 questions was applied to 368 people residing in Antakya before the earthquakes. The answers given by the participants to the survey questions were analyzed with SPSS software and the results of the analysis were presented with tables and graphics. In addition, visual analyzes were made based on the expressions given to some questions and the MQXQUDA program was used for this. According to the findings of the study; 82.1% of the participants stated that they missed Antakya, 65.2% of them were definitely curious about what was going on in Antakya, 82.6% of them stated that they took root in Antakya. 54.6% of the participants absolutely agree and 20.1% agree with the statement "I will continue to live in Antakya from now on". 71% of the participants consist of those who have never left Antakya and visited Antakya frequently or periodically. In other words, 71% of the participants maintain their connection with the city. 73.1% of the participants stated that they were still very attached to Antakya after the earthquake. All these statistical results showed that place attachment was strong despite the earthquakes. In addition to the survey results, the presence of graffiti and workplace signboards reflecting a high level of belonging on the streets of the city as a result of field observations created spatial reflections of place attachment.