The “Middle Class” and Gated Communities in İstanbul

Abstract

In broad terms, this article deals with the expansion of the once-exclusive gated communities in İstanbul to the large segments of the middle class especially following the 2008 economic crisis. It analyses how the characteristics of this housing form and its meaning for the city change with the inclusion of new segments of the middle class to the target mass. It also examines what the discourses of the residents about their gated communities, their fellow residents and the city reveal about the category of “middle class”. Based on 19 in-depth interviews with the residents of the gated communities addressing larger segments of the society, and discourse analysis of the advertisement material and other media coverage, it shows how the ideal types of neoliberal housing and the neoliberal middle-class urbanite are drawn, It also argues that the category of “middle class” is a political one with malleable boundaries (re)drawn according to the present regime of capital accumulation with these ideal types.     

Keywords

• middle class,new middle class,gated communities,neoliberal urbanization,housing

İstanbul’da “Orta Sınıf” ve Kapalı Siteler

Abstract

Bu makalede, 1990’larda ve 2000’lerin başında sadece kentli seçkinlerin yaşadığı kapalı sitelerin, özellikle 2008 krizi sonrasında, orta sınıfın daha geniş kesimlerine hitap eder hale gelmesi incelenmektedir. Hedef kitleye orta sınıfın yeni bölmelerinin dahil edilmesiyle bu konut biçiminin kimi özelliklerinin ve bu özelliklerin kent için anlamının nasıl değiştiği araştırılmaktadır. Ayrıca buralarda yaşayanların konut pratiklerine dair söylemlerinin orta sınıf kategorisiyle ilgili nasıl bir tablo çizdiği tartışılmaktadır. Hedef kitlesi genişleyen kapalı sitelerin pazarlanmasında kullanılan dilin söylem analizinden ve site sakinleriyle gerçekleştirilen yapılandırılmış mülakatlardan beslenen çalışma, kapalı sitenin neoliberal konutun ideal tipini, kapalı site sakinininse neoliberal orta sınıf bireyin ideal tipini oluşturduğunu savunur. Bununla birlikte, “orta sınıf”ın sermaye birikim modelinin dönemsel özelliklerine göre sınırları tekrar ve tekrar çizilen siyasi ve ideolojik bir kategori olduğunu bu ideal tipler üzerinden göstermeyi amaçlar.

Keywords

• orta sınıf,yeni orta sınıf,kapalı siteler,neoliberal kentleşme,konut

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