Risk toplumunu yeniden gözden geçirmek: COVID-19’un kent ve toplum üzerindeki sorunlu halleri

Abstract

Bu makale, COVID-19 salgının ardından küresel risk ortamının koşullarına ilişkin eleştirel bir değerlendirme sunmaktadır. Koronavirüs hastalığı tüm dünyaya yayılırken halk sağlığına dair öncelikler ile ekonomik uyum politikalarına dair alınan tedbirleri sorgulatmaktadır. Sosyal, politik ve ekonomik maliyetleriyle, toplumları zorluklara sürükleyen salgın konusu, bir sağlık sorunu olarak tanımlanmanın sınırlarını aşmış ve modernite ve kapitalist ekonomik sisteme dair yeni bir paradigmanın katalizörü haline gelmiştir. İnsan yaşamının her yönünde yarattığı yıkıcı etkileriyle, virüse ilişkin sorunlar bireyleri, ulusları ve küresel toplumu ‘risklerle yaşa-ma’ yollarını düşünmeye yöneltmektedir. COVID-19’un ortaya koyduğu tehditten yola çıkan bu makale, geçmiş deneyimleri, mevcut durumu ve eğilimleri ‘risk toplumu’ kavramı üzerin-den okuyarak, toplum, kent ve planlama ilişkilerini tartışmaktadır. Modernitenin, kapitalizmin ve halk sağlığı önceliklerinin tarihsel dinamiklerini yansıtarak, salgın sonrası dünya için farklı ölçeklerde toplumun yeni normallerine ışık tutmaktadır. Eleştirel değerlendirme yoluyla, bu makale risk toplumunun yeni aşamalarını bireysel, yerel, ulusal ve küresel ölçeklerde kavram-sallaştırır ve her ölçeğin içerdiği ikilemi tasvir eder.

Keywords

• risk toplumu
• modernite eleştirisi
• kapitalizm
• kent
• planlama

Risk society revisited: Challenging positions of COVID-19 on city and society

Abstract

This paper presents a critical evaluation on the global riskscape following the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus disease spread around the globe questioning the priorities in public health policies as well as the economic adaptability to prevention measures. Spreading with social, political and economic costs on societies, the issue of pandemic exceeds the limits of being identified as a health problem, and becomes to be a catalyst of a new paradigm consid-ering the state of art of modernity and capitalist economic systems. Regarding the catastrophic impact on human life in all aspects, the virus-related problems lead individuals, nations and global society to evaluate the ways of ‘living with risks’. Departing from the threat posed by the COVID-19, this paper discusses the issues of society, city and planning by reading the past experiences, current situation and trends through the concept of ‘risk society’. It reflects on the historic dynamics of modernity, capitalism and public health priorities, and sheds light on the ‘new normal’ of the society at different scales for the post-pandemic world. Through the critical evaluation, this paper conceptualizes the new phase of risk society at individual, local, national and global scales; and portrays the dichotomies that each scale incorporates.

Keywords

• risk society
• critique of modernity
• capitalism
• city
• planning

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