Sponge City Izmir Program Introduced.

İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tunç Soyer introduced the Sponge City Izmir project, shaped by his vision to combat drought, which aims to expand rainwater harvesting initiatives. Mayor Tunç Soyer emphasized the participation of citizens in rainwater storage facilities and rain gardens, stating, "Let's build the Sponge City project together. Let's collectively build the future of Izmir."

The presentation of the Sponge City Izmir project, implemented with the vision of "Another Water Management is Possible" by Mayor Tunç Soyer, took place at the Historic Gas Factory Youth Campus. This pioneering project in Turkey aims to scientifically store rainwater that falls on the city's streets, roads, and alleys underground. The project also involves harvesting and storing rainwater that falls on rooftops, allowing for its purification and reuse, as highlighted by Mayor Tunç Soyer.

The presentation event was attended by Neptün Soyer, the wife of Mayor Tunç Soyer and the President of Köy-Koop Izmir Union, as well as the mayors of Konak, Karşıyaka, and Güzelbahçe, along with municipal officials, village headmen, building and site managers, property owners, and representatives from public and private schools.

"The only way to improve our world is through cities"
Mayor Tunç Soyer, speaking about the project that will make Izmir the first sponge city in Turkey, discussed examples of correct and incorrect urbanization, stating, "Cities produce food, electricity, goods, and raw materials for themselves using the life energy on our planet. In return, they only leave behind plastic waste, carbon dioxide, war, and poverty. We have long known that this destructive relationship between cities and ecosystems is unsustainable."

Mayor Soyer emphasized the significant steps taken over the past three years to eliminate this destructive relationship in Izmir, stating, "The only way to improve our world is through cities. The urban population rate has now exceeded 55%, and it is predicted to reach 68-70% by 2050. Clearly, the future world will be a world of cities. That is why, if we are sincere about living on this planet, we must find solutions in cities to all our concerns about living on this planet. The only way to achieve this is to make cities a part of the natural cycles of nature. If we are sincere about sustaining our existence on this planet, we must believe that another form of urbanization is possible and take bold, decisive steps in that direction. That's what we are trying to do in Izmir."

"We are starting a brand new era that can be called a revolution"
Mayor Soyer recalled that about two years ago, they organized the "Sustainable Water Policies in Cities Summit" in Izmir with 11 metropolitan mayors, where they declared "Another Water Management is Possible" and published a manifesto on the topic. One of the manifesto's five key principles was to "preserve the water cycle of nature." Mayor Soyer pointed out that due to incorrect urbanization, the water cycle of nature has been destroyed in cities for over 60 years. Impermeable surfaces covering everywhere due to concrete-focused growth created an artificial shell between soil and water. Expensive rainwater channels were planned to drain water within the city, which could not penetrate the ground due to economic reasons in many cities, including Izmir. When climate crisis was added to incorrect urbanization, the problem became increasingly significant. Therefore, in Izmir, substantial investments have been made since 2019 to complete the city's rainwater canal infrastructure to prevent floods and inundations and simultaneously clean Izmir Bay. Today, they are starting a brand new era in the management of rainwater.

"Our goal is to turn Izmir into a sponge city within 5 years"
Mayor Soyer stated that they established the Water Resources Research and Application Center one and a half years ago to plan and develop the technical infrastructure of the Sponge City Izmir project. He highlighted that this unit, consisting of various experts, produced a specific program for Izmir through a year and a half of work. Mayor Soyer mentioned that they passed Turkey's first sponge city regulation in the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Council in October as part of this program. He added, "Our team has also prepared a comprehensive technical implementation guide to promote sponge city applications within the city. We will share this guide with our districts, enabling them to implement similar practices. On the other hand, we are on the verge of finalizing the planning studies for the Bostanlı and Poligon streams within the sponge city concept with academics from Izmir Institute of Technology and the Dutch company HNS. Our goal is to turn Izmir into a sponge city within five years. In doing so, we aim to reduce the flow of rainwater within the city by 70% in five years."

"We will give 5,000 rainwater tanks to 5,000 buildings"
Mayor Soyer highlighted one of the most important features of the Sponge City Izmir project, emphasizing the participation of all citizens living in Izmir. He said, "We will implement two comprehensive applications of our project with our citizens. The first is rainwater harvesting. We will utilize the rain that falls on our city and return it to the natural water cycle. We will provide a rainwater tank to 5,000 buildings as an incentive for the system setup. We are starting this application today. The amount of water falling on our city roofs is more than the water accumulated annually in our largest drinking water source, the Tahtalı Dam. Unfortunately, the rain that falls on our city flows in vain, gets polluted, causes floods and inundations. With 5,000 rainwater tanks, we will not only save water but also contribute to the cleaning of the bay and support the prevention of floods and inundations."

"10,000 rain gardens campaign is starting"
Mayor Soyer emphasized that the second application is the "10,000 Rain Gardens for Izmir" campaign. He stated, "For 10,000 citizens who apply for rain gardens, we will provide the plants they will plant in their rain gardens. We are starting this application today as well. With each rain garden we create in Izmir, we will prevent rainwater from our streets and avenues from reaching the sewage system, protecting us from floods, cleaning our water, and thus returning it to nature. With the Sponge City Izmir, apart from these two applications, we will implement many pilot projects gradually in urban and rural areas. Izmir will have a blue and green infrastructure. Water will flow back to the soil on the streets, avenues, roofs, and gardens of Izmir."

"Each one will be a guide for Turkey"
Mayor Soyer concluded by stating that each of these projects will serve as a guide for Turkey: "Our individual efforts to solve global crises will clearly not be enough. The harmony among our actions is as important as the harmony of our cities with nature. That's why I invite all Izmir residents to join our Sponge City project. Let's build the Sponge City project together with rainwater tanks and rain garden applications. Together, let's build the future of Izmir. Let's fight against drought and floods together."

Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Chief Advisor and geological engineer Alim Murathan provided technical information about the project. He explained that a modeling specific to Izmir was conducted with the Sponge City project and elaborated on the measures to prevent floods and inundations.

Applications have started
With this initiative, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality aims to support homes and businesses