The “Middle Class” and Gated Communities in İstanbul

Year 2012, Volume: 3 Issue: 6, 96 - 123, 20.04.2018

Seda Aydın

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

References

• Anderson, B. (1991). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London; New York: Verso.
• Amorim, L. & Loureiro, C. (2007). The space of architecture and a new conservation agenda. City & Time, 2: 1-10.
• Ayata, S. (2002). Joys of Suburbia. In D. Kandiyoti and A. Saktanber (Eds.). Fragments of culture. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press.
• Bali, R. (2002). Tarz-ı Hayattan Life Style'a. İstanbul: İletişim.
• Bartu, A. (2001). Kentsel ayrı(şı)m: İstanbul’daki yeni yerleşimler ve Kemer Country örneği. F. Gümüşoğlu (Ed.). 21. yüzyıl karşısında kent ve insan içinde. İstanbul: Bağlam.
• Bartu Candan, A. & Kolluoğlu, B. (2008). Emerging spaces of neoliberalism: A gated town and a public housing project in Istanbul. New Perspectives on Turkey, 39: 5-46.
• Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. London: Routledge.
• Brabec, T. & Sykora, L. (2009). Gated communities in Prague. In C. Smigiel (Ed.). Gated and Guarded Housing in Eastern Europe. Leibnitz-Institut für Länderkunde.
• Cardoso, A. L. & Leal, J. A. (2010). Housing Markets in Brazil: Recent and Trends and Governmental Responses to the 2008 Crisis. Journal of Housing, 10:191-208.
• Centner, R. (2010). Spatializing distinction in cities of the global south: volatile terrains of morality and citizenship. In J. Go (Ed.). Political power and social theory. Boston: Emerald.
• Coser, L. (1977). Masters of sociological thought: ideas in historical and sociological context. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
• Ekiert, G. (2010). The end of communism in Central and Eastern Europe: the last middle class revolution?. In J. Go (Ed.). Political power and social theory. Boston: Emerald.
• Davis, D. E. (2010). The sociospatial reconfiguration of middle classes and their impact on politics and development in the global south: preliminary ideas for future research. In J. Go (Ed.). Political power and social theory. Boston: Emerald.
• Demirel, H. (2011, 1Mayıs). Büyüklerin 2015 hesabı. Capital.
• Fernandes, L. (2006). India's new middle class: democratic politics in an era of economic reform. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
• Geniş, Ş. (2007). Producing elite localities: The rise of gated communities in Istanbul. Urban Studies, 44: 771-798.
• Kara, M. (2010, 27Aralık). Ukra İnşaat iki projede 400 milyon dolara ulaşacak. Hürriyet.
• Kurtuluş, H. (2005). İstanbul'da kapalı yerleşmeler: Beykoz Konakları örneği. H. Kurtu-luş (Ed.). İstanbul'da Kentsel Ayrışma: Mekansal dönüşümde farklı boyutlar içinde. İstan-bul: Bağlam.
• Lara, F. L. (2011). New (Sub)urbanism and old inequalities in Brazilian gated communi-ties. Journal of Urban Design, 16: 369-380.
• Li, S. & Huang, Y. (2006). Urban Housing in China: Market Transition, Housing Mobi-lity and Neighbourhood Change. Housing Studies, 21: 613-623. Li, S. (2010). Mortgage loan as a means of home finance in urban China: A comparative study of Guangzhou and Shanghai. Housing Studies, 25: 857-876.
• Low, S. (2004). Behind the gates: life security and the pursuit of happiness in fortress America. New York; London: Routledge.
• Öncü, A. (1997). The Myth of the Ideal Home Travels Across Cultural Borders to Istan-bul. In A. Oncu ve P. Weyland (Eds.). Space, Culture, Power: Struggles Over New Iden-tities In Globalizing Cities. London: ZED.
• Özdemir, D. (2011). The Role of the Public Sector in the Provision of Housing Supply. In Turkey, 1950–2009. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 35: 1099-1117.
• Özkan, E. & Kozaman, S. (2006). Gated Communities: as an efficient force in the fragmentation process of Istanbul, 42nd ISoCaRP Congress: Cities Between Integra-tion and Disintegration- Istanbul: YTU- TÜRKİYE,
• [http://www.isocarp.net/Data/case_studies/881.pdf] adresinden erişilebilir. Perouse, J. F. ve Danış, D. (2005). Zenginliğin mekanda yeni yansımaları: İstanbul'da güvenlikli siteler. Birikim, 104: 92-123.
• Pred, A. (1984). Place as Historically Contingent Process: Structuration and the Time-Geography of Becoming Places. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 74: 279-297.
• Ray, R. (2010). 'The middle class': Sociological category or proper noun?. In J. Go (Ed.). Political power and social theory. Boston: Emerald.
• Stiglitz, J. (2003). The Roaring Ninties. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
• Şenol, S. (2011, 20 Temmuz). Samsun site tarzı yapılaşma istiyor. Bugün.
• The Economist. (2009, Feb 14). Special Report: The new middle classes in emerging mar-kets: Bourgeoning Bourgeoisie.
• Şimşek, A. (2005). Yeni orta sınıf. Istanbul: Epokhe.
• Throop, J. & Murphy, K. M. (2002). Bourdieu and phenomenology: A critical assess-ment. Anthropological Theory, 2: 185-207.
• Yeldan, E. (2005). Yükselen piyasa ekonomisi olarak Türkiye. http://www.bilkent.edu.tr/~yeldane/Yeldan14_2Mar05.pdf, 13 Mart 2012 tarihinde ulaşıldı.
• Wacquant, L. J. D. (1991). Making Class: The Middle Class(es) in social theory and social structure. In S. G. McNall, F. Levine, and R Fantasia (eds.), Bringing Class Back In: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives. Boulder: Westview Press.
• Wu, F. (2010). Gated and packaged suburbia: Packaging and branding Chinese subur-ban residential development. Cities, 27: 385–396.