“A Clean and Livable Environment, Happy Kocaeli Project”, which took place in 2021 and 2022 and lasted 13 months, was carried out in cooperation with Kocaeli Governorship, universities, chambers of industry and commerce, Eastern Marmara Development Agency and Kocaeli City Council under the leadership of ŞURA Urban Policies and Research Center established within Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality. Prof. Hamza ATEŞ, a faculty member of our university, was among the researchers of the project.
This project is the preparation of the Sustainable Environment Action Plan, which has been started to prepare for the individuals living in Kocaeli province to have a good health and well-being, to create a sustainable industry and a sustainable city based on industrial innovations. It was prepared with the aim of considering Kocaeli’s environmental problems as a whole and developing solution proposals during the process. The specific objectives of the project were determined as analyzing the environmental situation of the province, determining environmental pollution and similar problems, developing methods and strategies with common sense against these problems, and compiling the necessary data for the Sustainable Environmental Action Plan.
In the project, which was carried out in three steps, inventory study and data analysis were carried out in the first stage. 13 important issues were identified towards creating a sustainable environment throughout the province. A usable inventory was created by processing the data obtained on these subjects. In the second stage, all environmental stakeholders in the city were brought together and the creation of a Sustainable Environmental Action Plan began. In the third stage, Kocaeli Environmental Council and Workshop was organized with the participation of public institutions, NGOs, universities and other relevant institutions and organizations. 500 participants from 77 institutions and organizations were invited to the Environmental Council. At the Environment Workshop, 264 participants, mostly academics, discussed the 13 determined themes in detail. It was planned to turn the data obtained into academic books.