A Look at the Problem of Slumps and Urban Transformation Studies In the World Through the Analysis of Some Examples In Ankara

Year 2024, Volume: 17 Issue: 1, 43 - 59, 15.01.2024

Varol Koç

https://doi.org/10.35674/kent.1369441

Abstract

Recently, due to the accelerating urban population growth, the urban population rate has exceeded the rural population rate worldwide. Much of this increase is due to the Global South and East, with a significant portion of the population living in urban informal settlements. Therefore, urban transformation is inevitable for the rehabilitation of cities. However, squatting is a type of settlement that the states generally turn a blind eye to, and thus implicitly support for decades. The same states, this time, are trying to transform the same slums, which gained value especially in proportion to their proximity to growing cities.However, it should not be forgotten that in urban transformation, the balance between financialization of housing, dispossession and humane housing rights of slum settlers must be carefully and fairly. In this study, it has been tried to make determinations about the causes of the problem and to bring suggestions for solutions through some examples of slums and urban transformation from the world and Turkey in particular Ankara.

Keywords

urban transformation, slums, informality, global south and east, housing construction

Dünyadaki Gecekondu Sorunlarına ve Kentsel Dönüşüm Çalışmalarına Ankara’daki Bazı Örneklerin Analizi Yoluyla Bir Bakış

Abstract

Son yıllarda hızlanan kentsel nüfus artışına bağlı olarak dünya genelinde kentsel nüfus oranı kırsal nüfus oranını geçmiştir. Bu artışın çoğu, nüfusun önemli bir kısmının kentsel gayri resmi yerleşimlerde yaşadığı Küresel Güney ve Doğu'dan kaynaklanmaktadır. Bu nedenle kentlerin rehabilitasyonu için kentsel dönüşüm kaçınılmazdır. Ancak gecekondu, devletlerin genellikle görmezden geldiği ve bu nedenle onlarca yıldır zımnen desteklediği bir yerleşim türüdür. Aynı devletler, özellikle büyüyen şehirlere yakınlıkları oranında değer kazanan aynı gecekondu mahallelerini bu kez dönüştürmeye çalışmaktadır. Ancak unutulmamalıdır ki, kentsel dönüşümde konutun finansallaşması, mülksüzleştirme ve gecekondu sakinlerinin insani barınma hakları arasındaki denge dikkatli ve adil bir şekilde kurulmalıdır. Bu çalışmada Ankara özelinde dünyadan ve Türkiye'den bazı gecekondu ve kentsel dönüşüm örnekleri üzerinden sorunun nedenlerine yönelik tespitler yapılmaya ve çözüm önerileri getirilmeye çalışılmıştır.

Keywords

kentsel dönüşüm, gecekondu, kayıt dışılık, küresel güney ve doğu, konut inşaatı

References

• Adam, M., Altaban, Ö., Ateş, T., & Keskinok, Ç. H. (2009). Housing Policies from the Republic to the Present (from 1923 to 1980s). In S. Kayasü, O. Işık, N. Uzun, & E. Kamacı (Eds.), Slum, Transformation, City: A Gift to Tansı Şenyapılı (pp. 243–268). Ankara, Turkey
• Agbiboa, D. E. (2018). Informal urban governance and predatory politics in Africa: The role of motor-park touts in Lagos. African Affairs, 117(466), 62-82.
• Ammar (2019) Ankara Metropolitan Municipality 2018 Annual Report, April 2019, 211 p.
• Balaban MŞ . 2019. Hazard-prone cities and recent challenges in the case of urban transformation experience of Turkey. In: Ozdemir Sarı OB, Ozdemir S, Uzun N, editors. Urban and regional planning in Turkey. Cham: Springer; p. 235–259.
• Bank, W. (2015). Rising through the cities of Ghana: Ghana Urbanization Review Overview Report. World Bank Group, Washington, DC., viewed March, 11, 2018.
• Banks N., Lombard M. & Mitlin D. (2020) Urban Informality as a Site of Critical Analysis, The Journal of Development Studies, 56:2, 223-238.
• Bektaş Y., Türkün A. (2017) Mixed Income Housing Strategy in Urban Transformation and Turkey-Specific Dynamics: Ankara Altındağ-Gültepe Case, Megaron, v. 12, p. 2 H. 263-279.
• Braathen, E., Dupont, V., Jordhus-Lier, D., & Sutherland, C. (2016). Introduction: situating the politics of slums within the ‘urban turn’. In The Politics of Slums in the Global South: Urban Informality in Brazil, India, South Africa and Peru, 1 – 29 . New York :Routledge .
• Brenner, N., & Theodore, N. (2002). Cities and the geographies of “actually existing neoliberalism”. Antipode, 34(3), 349-379.
• Boonyabancha, S. (2009). Land for housing the poor—by the poor: experiences from the Baan Mankong nationwide slum upgrading programme in Thailand. Environment and Urbanization, 21(2), 309-329.
• Buğra, A. (1998). The immoral economy of housing in Turkey. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 22(2), 303–307.
• Çavuşoğlu, E., & Strutz, J. (2014). Producing force and consent: Urban transformation and corporatism in Turkey. City, 18(2), 134-148.
• Davis D.E. (2016) Reflections on the relations between development and urbanization: past trajectories and future challenges, International Journal of Urban Sciences, 20:1, 1-14.
• Deboulet, A. (2016). Introduction, Rethinking precarious neighbourhoods. Knowledge and recognition. Rethinking precarious neighbourhoods, 9-35, Paris : Agence Française de Développement
• Dikeç, M., & Swyngedouw, E. (2017). Theorizing the politicizing city. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 41(1), 1-18.
• Danso-Wiredu, E. Y. (2018). Housing strategies in low income urban communities in Accra, Ghana. GeoJournal, 83(4), 663-677.
• Elicin Y . 2014. Neoliberal transformation of the Turkish city through the urban transformation act. Habitat Int. 41:150–155.
• Farvacque-Vitkovic, C., Raghunath, M., Eghoff, C., & Boakye, C. (2008). Development of the cities of Ghana: challenges, priorities, and tools (No. 44871, pp. 1-170). The World Bank.
• Fernandes, E. (2011). Regularization of informal settlements in Latin America, Policy Focus Report, Cambridge: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
• Firman T., Kombaitan B. & Pradono P. (2007) The Dynamics of Indonesia's Urbanisation, 1980–2006, Urban Policy and Research, 25:4, 433-454.
• Gençer, C.I. (2017a) Urban Transformation in İzmir and Thessaloniki in the 19th Century: Construction of Docks and Harbors, Meltem İzmir Mediterranean Academy Journal, vol.1, pp.1, pp.33-51 (in Turkish).
• Gençer, C.I. (2017b) Urban transformation dynamics in the 19th century: İzmir and Thessaloniki (1840-1910) Architecture, vol.394, pp.50-55 (in Turkish).
• Genç, F.N. (2014) Urbanization Policies in Turkey from Fight Against Slums to Urban Transformation, Adnan Menderes University, Journal of Social Sciences Institute, Vol: 1, Issue: 1, P: 15-30.
• Ghertner, A. (2010) Commonwealth Games, failure of “just in time” planning, New Statesman, Oct. Available at http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2010/10/commonwealth-games-planning.
• Gilbert, A. (2016). Informality, renting and housing in the Global South. Precarious Neighborhoods, 119 -134.
• Görün M., Kara M. (2010) Increasing the Quality of Urban Life in Turkey in the Context of Urban Transformation and Social Entrepreneurship, Journal of Management Sciences (8: 2) p. 137-164 (in Turkish).
• Gün A., Pak B., Demir Y. (2021) Responding to the urban transformation challenges in Turkey: a participatory design model for Istanbul, International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development, 13:1, 32-55.
• Gündoğan A.Z. (2019) Divergent responses to urban transformation projects in Turkey: common sense and state affinity in community mobilization, Urban Geography, 40:7, 893-917.
• Güzey Ö . 2016. The last round in restructuring the city: urban regeneration becomes a state policy of disaster prevention in Turkey. Cities. 50:40–53.
• Hasan, A. (2008). Financing the sanitation programme of the Orangi Pilot Project—Research and Training Institute in Pakistan. Environment and Urbanization, 20(1), 109-119.
• Hsing, Y. T (2010) The Great Urban Transformation: Politics of Land and Property in China, Oxford University Press
• Huchzermeyer M. (2009) The struggle for in situ upgrading of informal settlements: a reflection on cases in Gauteng, Development Southern Africa, 26:1, 59-73.
• IEA. 2017. International Energy Agency (IEA). Global Status Report 2017. https://www.worldgbc.org/sites/default/files/UNEP 188_GABC_en(web).pdf.
• Karaman, O. (2013). Urban neoliberalism with Islamic characteristics. Urban Studies, 50(16), 3412-3427.
• Karayalcin, M. (2009). Conceptualization Suggestions for Urban Transformation Projects and Dikmen Valley Project Experience. Housing Symposium ITU Taşkışla, 4(12), 2009.
• Kipfer, S. ( 2008 ). Lefebvre Gramsci'yi nasıl kentleştirdi: Hegemonya, gündelik yaşam ve farklılık . Kanishka Goonewardena'da , Stefan Kipfer , Richard Milgram ve Carl Schmid'de ( Ed .), Uzay, farklılık, gündelik yaşam: Henri Lefebvre'yi Okumak (s. 193 – 211 ). New York, NY : Routledge .
• Kipfer, S., Goonewardena, K. , Milgram, R. ve Schmid, C. ( 2008 ) On the production of Henri Lefebvre, Kanishka Goonewardena'da , Stefan Kipfer , Richard Milgram, & Carl Schmid'de ( Ed .), Space, Difference, Everyday Life: Reading Henri Lefebvre, 1-24, Londra; New York : Routledge.
• Koçak, H., Tolanlar M. (2008) Urban Transformation Applications (Examples of Aydın and Afyonkarahisar), Afyon Kocatepe University, İ.İ.B.F. Journal, C.X ,S II, p. 397-415 (in Turkish).
• Kuyucu, T., & Ünsal, Ö. (2010). ‘Urban transformation’as state-led property transfer: An analysis of two cases of urban renewal in Istanbul. Urban Studies, 47(7), 1479-1499.
• Lefebvre, H. (1991). The Production of Space (N. Donaldson-Smith, Trans.). Massachusetts : Basil Blackwell .
• Lines, K., & Makau, J. (2018). Taking the long view: 20 years of Muungano wa Wanavijiji, the Kenyan federation of slum dwellers. Environment and Urbanization, 30(2), 407-424.
• Lombard, M. (2016). Land conflict in peri-urban areas: Exploring the effects of land reform on informal settlement in Mexico. Urban Studies, 53(13), 2700-2720.
• Lovering J. & Türkmen H. (2011) Bulldozer Neo-liberalism in Istanbul: The State-led Construction of Property Markets, and the Displacement of the Urban Poor, International Planning Studies, 16:1, 73-96.
• McFarlane C. (2012) Rethinking Informality: Politics, Crisis, and the City, Planning Theory & Practice, 13:1, 89-108.
• Metropol Development (1991) Dikmen Valley Project Implementation Zoning Plan Report, Ankara: Unpublished Zoning Plan Report.
• Mwangi, I. K. (1997). The nature of rental housing in Kenya. Environment and urbanization, 9(2), 141-160.
• Nations, U. (2014). World urbanization prospects: The 2014 revision, highlights. department of economic and social affairs. Population Division, New York: United Nations, 32.
• NEEAP. 2018. National Energy Efficiency Action Plan 2017-2023. www.yegm.gov.tr.
• Pawe C. K. & Saikia A. (2018) Unplanned urban growth: land use/land cover change in the Guwahati Metropolitan Area, India, Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography, 118:1, 88-100.
• Penbecioglu, Mehmet . ( 2013 ). Urban development projects and the construction of neo-liberal urban hegemony: The case of İzmir. METU Journal of the Faculty of Architecture 30(1), 165 – 189.
• Porter L., Lombard M., Huxley M., Ingin A.K., Islam T., Briggs J., Rukmana D., Devlin R. & Watson V. (2011) Informality, the Commons and the Paradoxes for Planning: Concepts and Debates for Informality and Planning Self-Made Cities: Ordinary Informality? The Reordering of a Romany Neighbourhood The Land Formalisation Process and the Peri-Urban Zone of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Street Vendors and Planning in Indonesian Cities Informal Urbanism in the USA: New Challenges for Theory and Practice Engaging with Citizenship and Urban Struggle Through an Informality Lens, Planning Theory & Practice, 12:1, 115-153.
• Ranganathan, M. (2014). 'Mafias' in the Waterscape: Urban Informality and Everyday Public Authority in Bangalore. Water Alternatives, 7(1), 89- 105.
• Roy, A. (2009). Strangely familiar: Planning and the worlds of insurgence and informality. Planning Theory, 8(1), 7-11.
• Sadioğlu, U., Ergönül, E. (2020) The Meaning, Actors and Aims of Urban Transformation in Turkey, Journal of Ideal City Urban Studies, P. 30, Vol. 11, p. 878-908 (in Turkish).
• Saraçoğlu C, Demirtaş‐Milz N . 2014. Disasters as an ideological strategy for governing neoliberal urban transformation in Turkey: insights from Izmir/Kadifekale. Disasters. 38(1):178–201.
• Shields, Rob . ( 2004 ). Henri Lefebvre, Phil Hubbard , Rob Kitchin ve Gill Valentine (Ed.), Fundamental thinkers on space and earth (s. 208 – 213 ). Londra: Sage.
• Sönmez H. (2020) The History of Urban Transformation in Turkey and Some in Ankara Urban Transformation Applications, Consultant: Koç, V., Y.L. Graduation Term Project, OMU Science know Institute of Real Estate Valuation and Development, Samsun, 38 p.
• Tansel CB . 2019. Reproducing authoritarian neoliberalism in Turkey: urban governance and state restructuring in the shadow of executive centralization. Globalizations. 16(3):320–335.
• TCRG (2004) Kuzey Ankara Entrance Urban Transformation Project Law, Law no: 5104, 12 March, No: 25400, p. 8743- 8746.
• TCRG (2012), Law on the transformation of areas under disaster risk, Law no: 6306, 31 May 2012, No: 28309, p. 11579- 11590.
• Tekeli, I. (2005). A New Paradigm Proposal for Urban Historiography. In T. Şenyapılı (Ed.), Ankara of the Republic (pp. 152–171). Ankara, Turkey: METU Development.
• TSI. 2017. Building Permits January-June, 2017. Turkish Statistical Institute. Accessed October 10, 2019. http://www.turkstat.gov.tr/PreHaberBultenleri.do?id=24722.
• Topal A., Yalman G.L. & Çelik Ö. (2019) Changing modalities of urban redevelopment and housing finance in Turkey: Three mass housing projects in Ankara, Journal of Urban Affairs, 41:5, 630-653.
• Turok, I., Budlender, J., & Visagie, J. (2018). Urban “slums” and social mobility. Development Policy Review, 36(6), 703-725.
• Türker-Devecigil, P. (2006). The role of local actors in transforming informal settlements in Turkey for sustainable urban development: The Ankara–Dikmen valley case. International planning studies, 11(3-4), 167-186.
• Türkün, A. (2011). Urban regeneration and hegemonic power relationships. International planning studies, 16(1), 61-72.
• UNECE. 2009 . Self-Manufactured Cities: Seeking Sustainable Solutions for Informal Settlements in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Region, New York: UNECE.
• Un-Habitat. (2016). World cities report 2016: Urbanization and development–emerging futures,Nairobi: United Nations Human Settlements Programme.
• Uzun, B., Çete, M., & Palancıoğlu, H. M. (2010). Legalizing and upgrading illegal settlements in Turkey. Habitat International, 34(2), 204–209.
• Weinstein, L. (2008). Mumbai's development mafias: globalization, organized crime and land development. International journal of urban and regional research, 32(1), 22-39.
• Yakubu I., Spocter M.& Donaldson R. (2021) ‘I Cannot Stand up to my Chief nor the State’: Reflections on Development-Induced Housing Mobility in Pro-Poor Housing Systems in Tamale, Ghana, African Studies, 80:2, 207-229.
• Yardımlı, S. (2020) Neolithic Age Buildings and Common Building Techniques and Details Detected in Today's Ahievren Village Houses, International Journal of Eastern Anatolia Science Engineering and Design, Vol. 2, P. 1, pp. 134 – 154 (in Turkish).
• Yeşilbağ M. (2020) The State-Orchestrated Financialization of Housing in Turkey, Housing Policy Debate, 30:4, 533-558,
• Yildiz S, Kivrak S, Arslan G . 2018. Contribution of built environment design elements to the sustainability of urban renewal projects: model proposal. J Urban Plann Dev. 145(1):04018045.