This paper is based on a report1 that stemmed from an investigation into improving Turkey’s legal framework for spatial planning and physical development. The principal motivation for the investigation has been the renewed awareness in the wake of the Erzincan earthquake of 13 March 1992 that there exist systemic defects in the way the built environment in Turkey is created. These deficiencies cause the building stock to have poor record against disasters, and bleed the national economy. It drains resources in an endless cycle of rebuilding after each occurrence of a disaster. In view of the great losses from the 17 August 1999 and 12 November 1999 earthquakes in northwestern Turkey, parliamentary adoption of the types of legal and structural instruments that have been developed during the course of the investigation has become more pressing
