Planned gentrification in istanbul: the sulukule renewal area 2005-2010

Abstract

This paper evaluates the fi rst local government-led neighborhood regeneration project in central Istanbul with reference to its neighborhood impact and its wider implications for the future of regeneration in the city. From a perspective rooted in historical and international comparative planning studies, the research methodology is elaborated through an analysis of the evolution of a generic model of contemporary sustainable urban regeneration that provides the analytical framework for the evaluation. A review of the emergence of regeneration in Istanbul since the early 2000s establishes the context and rationale for the Sulukule case study. The paper then presents an analysis of events which led to the total demolition of the historic Sulukule neighborhood and the destruction of its Roma community. These events fl owed from the authoritarian implementation of the Sulukule Renewal Area Plan, despite the efforts of civil society organizations to secure the development and implementation of a community-based alternative plan. The neighborhood level evaluation explains why the redevelopment of Sulukule should be understood as planned gentrifi cation. Evaluation on a wider front is necessary because Sulukule has become the cause celebre in a vigorous debate about the purpose, scope, and outcomes of regeneration, which centers on the question 'whose Historic Peninsula?'. Many argue that regeneration should be stopped, as it inevitably means planned gentrifi cation. But others, including the authors, draw on international experience to argue for the development of an Istanbul/Turkish version of sustainable, conservation-led, and community-based neighborhood regeneration. More widely still, the Sulukule experience has fuelled growing opposition to regeneration per se, epitomized in the slogan 'no Sulukule here'. Thus the paper concludes by outlining the action needed to move toward sustainable regeneration, not only for the city's central historic neighborhoods, but also for the far more numerous poor and deteriorating 20 th century neighborhoods where the threat is not from gentrifi cation, but from the next earthquake. Keywords: evaluation and earthquake threat, gentrifi cation, Istanbul, renewal area, Sulukule, urban and neighborhood regeneration, urban conservation. '… an assessment, as systematic and objective as possible, of an ongoing or completed project, programme or policy, its design, implementation and results. The aim is to determine the relevance and fulfi lment of objectives, developmental effi ciency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability. An evaluation should provide information that is credible and useful, enabling the incorporation of lessons learned into the decision-making process …' (OECD / DAC [4]). The research data have been derived from the application of a combination of research techniques. In our desk-based research, a survey of the academic and professional literature, together with an

The Origins, Processes and Emerging Outcomes of Neighbourhood Redevelopment in Gaziosmanpaşa, Istanbul

“…Residents under threat of expropriation were effectively forced to sell and move out of their neighbourhood and tenants were the victims of forced eviction from their homes. This was the authoritarian and coercive process at the heart of the controversial redevelopment of Sulukule, characterised as "planned gentrification" (Kocabas and Gibson 2011).…”

“…Between 1999 and 2012, an increasing number of neighbourhood regeneration projects were developed and implemented using the evolving framework. However, most were highly controversial as they resulted in the displacement and dispersal of the residents in a process which came to be characterised as "planned gentrification" (Kocabas and Gibson 2011). The United Nations Advisory Group on Forced Evictions which visited Istanbul's 8 regeneration areas in 2009 reported that approximately 80,000 people were directly affected and 12,730 people had already had their homes destroyedsee Figure 2 (AGFE 2009).…”

“…5366. Three months later, Fatih Municipality signed a Protocol with the Metropolitan Municipality and TOKI for the comprehensive redevelopment of the neighbourhood (Kocabas and Gibson 2011). Immediately, an "urgent expropriation decision" was issued.…”

“…The majority of the residents in Sulukule were relocated to a TOKI estate 40 km away from the city centre. But 334 families out of 337 who had moved there left their new accommodation as they were unable to maintain mortgage payments (Kocabas and Gibson 2011). They moved back as tenants to areas surrounding Sulukule.…”

Urban conservation in Istanbul’s Historic Peninsula: progress and challenges

“…But the comprehensive redevelopment of the area was the antithesis of sustainable urban conservation. Virtually all the neighbourhood's housing and infrastructure, its environmental capital, was destroyed, as well as its intangible cultural heritagethe 1000 years old Romany community [21]. The ongoing implementation of Renewal Areas programme does not involve comprehensive redevelopment, but a combination of redevelopment and rehabilitation.…”