Francesco Pasta is an urbanist and researcher based in Istanbul. He is interested in participatory research, community-led planning, urban displacement, and the broader politics of space. He has worked with the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights and the Community Architects Network across Southeast Asia, supporting grassroots urban initiatives around issues of housing, slum upgrading, and strategic planning. More recently, He has been leading the work of Architecture Sans Frontières–UK on community-led post-disaster reconstruction in Antakya, Turkey, in collaboration with local civil society groups. In parallel, He has recently completed a PhD in Urban Planning, Design and Policy at Politecnico di Milano, where his research investigated urban inhabitation under conditions of “extended transiency” in the context of large-scale urban transformation in Fikirtepe, Istanbul.

What Makes Antakya Is Its People”: Scaling Community-led Recovery as a Pathway to a Just Transition in Turkey

This research investigates how community-led planning can support a just transition in post-disaster contexts. Building on ongoing work with Architecture Sans Frontières–UK and local partners in Antakya—the city most severely impacted by the 2023 earthquakes and a key site of grassroots mobilization—this project explores how bottom-up approaches can bridge the gap between progressive policy frameworks and the lived realities of affected communities in Turkey.

Despite national commitments to sustainability and inclusive recovery, reconstruction in Antakya has largely followed a top-down, technocratic model that sidelines local knowledge and participation. This project examines how community-driven initiatives—particularly those centered on “living heritage” as a framework linking cultural, ecological, and social dimensions—can offer more just and climate-responsive alternatives.

The research combines fieldwork, participatory workshops, and co-designed outputs structured across three interconnected scales: local (practices in Antakya), national (policy in Turkey), and global (comparative insights). These include a report on community-based reconstruction in Antakya, a policy brief with civil society and planning actors, and an international online platform sharing tools and lessons.

By embedding public outreach into its research methods, the project aims to strengthen grassroots actors’ influence in shaping recovery and to inform policy shifts toward more equitable, sustainable reconstruction pathways rooted in local agency.