The choices made by governments in different historical periods in pursuit of economic and social development directly impact urbanization processes. This study adopts a theoretical framework involving a layered approach in order to understand the urbanization processes in Türkiye. Particular focus is on Erzurum, as a settlement that evolved from a mid-sized Anatolian town into a metropolis, as well as the environmental effects of urban development, especially on the sustainability of agricultural land, in the light of theoretical debates. The development plans of the city of Erzurum are analysed to understand the path of evolution from the urbanization of the nation-state to the urbanization of capital, which is a topic of particular interest in urban literature, revealing that this capital held decision-making processes in the planning field in its grip, whether at a central or local level.

Negative environmental developments in the modern urban world such as pollution, disasters, scarcity of sources and climate change necessitates regulations and introduce the urgent need for new urban planning approaches. The concept of “resilience” becomes a contemporary issue in this process and it takes the discussions on sustainability, management of risks and governance a step further. Resilience is mainly a capacity of system to cope with external unexpected risks. In the urban area, the concept means adaptation and coping capacity of urban systems against shocks, risks, disasters and emergencies which may arise. The main aim of this study is to evaluate existing urbanization practices of Trabzon in terms of the concept of resilience. In the first stage, the resilience concept and its new initiatives in the planning area are discussed. Then, framework for the analysis of Trabzon is presented. Later, Criteria and measurement methods were analyzed within the framework of twelve different studies. In the scope of these studies, social, economic, physical-ecological, administrative and political resilience perspectives were defined. In this direction, 49 indicators were prepared in accordance with the national database and new method was searched for the evaluation of the Turkish case within the resilience perspective. The findings showed that Trabzon is a non-resilient city and creating risks in terms of the topics studied. A planning approach should be developed from the perspective of resilience for the city. Otherwise, it is obvious that the city will be faced with big risks in the future in terms of livability.