Design priorities in post-disaster housing reconstruction: architects’ evaluations from the 2023 Kahramanmaraş (Türkiye) earthquakes

Disaster management includes post-disaster reconstruction, a process that supports the physical repair of the built environment and social recovery. Post-disaster reconstruction requires architects’ expertise, yet their perspectives remain under-researched. This study examines the design priorities of architects involved in permanent housing production following the 6 February 2023, Kahramanmaraş earthquakes in Türkiye. Focusing on Hatay province, the research identifies design criteria and cross-examines permanent housing design proposals to evaluate whether design intentions align with architects’ perceived implementation priorities. Pairwise comparison data from surveys were analyzed using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) across physical–structural, socio-cultural, economic–managerial, and environmental dimensions. Findings indicate that economic–managerial and environmental criteria receive the highest priority – particularly transparency, resource efficiency, and ecosystem compatibility. Conversely, socio-cultural aspects like privacy and community participation receive lower priority. While architects emphasize structural safety and planning principles, material quality and renewable energy remain secondary. The results suggest a tension: the lower prioritization of socio-cultural criteria may be interpreted in relation to institutional pressures for rapid delivery and resource management during project delivery; however, these mechanisms were not directly measured within the AHP framework. Consequently, this study proposes policy recommendations and participatory design strategies to balance technical efficiency with socio-cultural resilience in disaster recovery efforts.