Yalova is one of the cities whose population is growing uncontrollably

due to its location in the Marmara region. In addition to health and

nature tourism, the rapidly growing industrial facilities have increased

the demand for accommodation, transportation, infrastructure, etc.

The residential area of Yalova city is on the coastline in the eastern

part of the Marmara Sea, just at the western end of the Gulf of Izmit.

The settlement is on a morphology consisting of the coastal plain along

the coastline and the slightly rugged slopes and hill plains just to the

south. The alluvium in the coastal plain has low bearing capacity and

high liquefaction and settlement potential. The low slopes in the south

of the coastal plain are potential and active landslide areas. The city

settlement is under the impact of the active North Anatolian Fault Zone

(NAFZ) in its immediate north. The existing building stock was

seriously damaged in the 1999 Marmara Earthquake and more than

30 percent of it has completed its economic life.

Geology, engineering geology and geotechnical parameters are the

most important determining factors in the urban planning of existing

settlements under the influence of geological hazards and new

settlements that will meet the increasing population demand. It is

inevitable that urban planning should be prepared according to these

factors, and settlement plans and building designs should be made by

taking geology, engineering geology and geotechnical parameters into

consideration.

In the planning of the Yalova city, the competence of geological and

geotechnical or microzonation studies based on the zoning plan, and

the technical and administrative problems encountered in the

implementation of the findings and recommendations of these studies

in the design of buildings are discussed within the scope of this study.