Critical moments of social spatialization in the neighborhood : an alternative reading of the mainstream gecekondu history
Author
Demirtaş, Neslihan
Advisor
Helvacıoğlu, Banu
Date
2007Publisher
Bilkent University
Language
English
Type
ThesisItem Usage Stats
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Abstract
This thesis aims to expose an alternative local historical reading of the formation of
a gecekondu space as a response to modernist consideration of gecekondu
development in Turkey. The social construction of neighborhood space, which
occurs at the level of social imaginary and representations as well as at the level of
real interventions in the form of social practices producing a built environment, is
narrated by means of insider perspectives and using qualitative techniques. In this
reading, it will be made explicit that the dynamics and patterns by which the
modernist, strategic interventions in local space and tactical acts of the migrants in
producing their locality are closely interconnected. This interconnectedness not
only sheds light to the weaknesses of the strategical practice of imposing a
modernist space but also the tactical acts of migrants utilizing the loopholes in the
strategical realm. Spontaneity as the defining and intrinsic quality of gecekondu
settlements is mainly embedded in the diverse local agencies that lead to spatial
contingencies. The ethnic identities constitute the main means by which the
migrants employ certain tactics with regard to strategical policy acts and to other
groups in the neighborhood. Within the context of the intertwined nature of tactic and strategy, gecekondu settlements will be discussed as a by-product of the sum of
modernist strategical acts more than as unintended consequences of urban
development.
Keywords
GecekonduSpatial Contingency
Spontaneity
Ethnic Identities
Tactic-Strategy
Social Spatialization