Browsing by Subject "Housing"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Open Access
Domestication of privacy through the governance of informal production of space in postcolonial Lahore
(2024-07) Khan, Muhammad Shahzeb
Postcolonial Lahore is a site of contestation among conflicting productions of privacies. This research explores the material and representational dynamics of this contestation by examining how this domestication is shaped by colonial and postcolonial strategies of spatial governance, segmenting space along the mutually exclusive lines of public and private, and the ways in which they are resisted through everyday practices of informal appropriation. Departing from the post-structural critique of such ontological binarism, this research argues that while in abstraction, public and private are seen as mutually exclusive binaries, in reality, their relationship is highly varied and always in a state of becoming. A case study analysis of the historical development of five urban settlements in Lahore, along with a detailed literature review and fieldwork, unravels how the construction of boundaries between public and private are intertwined with the control and organization of domestic space. It also studies how formal and informal emerge as the conceptual categories of spatial planning in Lahore within the historical production of middle-class residential spaces. In addition to the legal planning instruments, this thesis highlights that informality as a spatial category is constructed through the exclusionary production of an urban built environment, where any divergences from material and discursive coding of public and private segmentation are considered informal. Countering any simplistic opposition between formal/informal, this research suggests that in everyday urban space, informality occurs as both defending as well as transgressing of the institutional and non-institutional assertion of boundaries. It highlights that the social and cultural divisions in the city are reproduced spatially in the ways the rigid boundaries between public and private are maintained and the degree to which they are resisted. By foregrounding how such definitive architectural geometries are continually transgressed and appropriated, this research reveals the limitations of binary classifications in articulating the differences and multiplicities of how spatial privacies are made and unmade in everyday practice.
Open Access
Housing experience of forced migrants: a comparison of Sweden and Turkey
(2023-08) Akdemir Kurfalı, Merve
This dissertation examines the housing experiences of forced migrants and how they are affected by different housing policies through a comparison between Turkey and Sweden. The concept of forced migrants, increasingly utilized in the field, was adopted based on the daily challenges faced by individuals with similar experiences, despite having different legal statuses. Beginning from this point, it addresses the situation of forced migrants amidst multi-layered urban complexity by embracing the super-diversity approach, which allows for the exploration of diverse experiences. The empirical section of the dissertation is built upon semi-structured interviews with three distinct groups: forced migrants, local people, and local experts in Gaziantep, Turkey, and Stockholm, Sweden. Initially, housing studies related to immigration are categorized based on their focus scales, linked to various aspects of the right to housing. Subsequently, legal documents pertaining to asylum and housing policies in Turkey and Sweden are examined, followed by a discussion of the fieldwork findings. The dissertation concludes that forced migrants encounter challenges across all dimensions of the right to housing whereas in Turkey, issues related to accessing affordable housing are prominent, while segregation is a more prevailing concern in Sweden. With a more intrusive housing policy in Sweden, forced migrants engage at an institutional level, while in Turkey, forced immigrants seek solutions within the social sphere. The study asserts that the subject of forced migrants does not exhibit uniform patterns as often depicted in the Global North or the Global South; numerous distinct forms are observable, particularly in the case of Turkey.
Open Access
The influence of sustainable design features on indoor environmental quality satisfaction in Turkish dwellings
(Taylor & Francis, 2016) Afacan, Yasemin; Demirkan, H.
The aim of this paper is to explore the influence of sustainable design features on occupants satisfaction levels with indoor environmental quality (IEQ) aspects in three types of dwellings. Satisfaction level was investigated through a field survey with 240 participants, in apartments, row and detached houses in Turkey. Satisfaction level was explored in terms of overall satisfaction with IEQ, with the efficiency of daily living activities and with sleeping quality. Satisfaction level was also investigated regarding the dwellings thermal, ventilation, lighting, sound level and moisture qualities. The findings indicate that the existence of exterior insulation, a thermostat, light dimmers and control of daylighting systems through operable windows have high impacts on the satisfaction level of occupants living in all three types of dwellings. © 2015 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Open Access
Residing without settling: housing market and tactics of Syrian forced migrants in Turkey
(John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2023-08-09) Kurfalı, Merve Akdemir; Özçürümez, Saime
How do forced migrants from Syria cope with structural barriers to housing in urban centres in Turkey? More than 3.6 million Syrian refugees have lived in different cities in Turkey since the closing of the temporary accommodation centres in 2018. This study examines the agency of Syrians and their housing pathways in securing accommodation in a neoliberal housing market amidst increasing unwelcoming attitudes by the local population, no social housing, high dependence on rental housing prone to price hikes, and “temporary protection” legal status. Based on analysis of data from 34 semi-structured interviews with forced migrant Syrians and 20 expert interviews in Gaziantep, a city close to the Turkey-Syria border with a substantial Syrian population, the research identifies four tactics that characterise housing pathways of Syrian forced migrants: (1) acting through local community members, (2) working with a Syrian mediator, (3) settling down in Syrian-only buildings or informal settlements, and (4) purchasing a house through circumventing the legal ban on property ownership. The study concludes by highlighting that while these tactics are necessary for meeting forced migrants’ immediate housing needs, they are far from sufficient in preventing exclusion in the Turkish housing market.