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Gentrification around the World, Volume I pp 223–243Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Residential Transformation Leading to Gentrification: Cases from Istanbul

Part of the Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology book series (PSUA)

Abstract

Many cities in Turkey are facing the problems of a “transforming” city instead of a “growing” city since the 1980s. Planners and policy-makers are dealing with the impact of changes in residential areas. In Istanbul, gentrification has been a significant type of transformation since the late 1980s, leading to notable residential divisions based on socioeconomic status. Urban redevelopment projects, on the other hand, have been important tools for controlling the transformation of residential areas, especially in squatter neighborhoods. The aim of this chapter is to demonstrate how different residential transformation processes resulted in gentrification in Istanbul. These examples provide insight into how a process, observed mostly in advanced capitalist countries, takes place in peripheral capitalist countries. In this chapter, a brief summary of residential development in Turkey is given, followed by a brief introduction to Istanbul with background information about its urban development. Four case studies are then discussed in detail, and a comparative evaluation is made.

Keywords

  • Istanbul
  • Residential transformation processes
  • Development-led displacement
  • Mega-scale gentrification

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Cem Duruöz for his invaluable assistance in language editing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

    Nil Uzun

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  1. Nil Uzun
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Correspondence to Nil Uzun .

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  1. Brooklyn College, The City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY, USA

    Prof. Jerome Krase

  2. St. John's University, Queens, NY, USA

    Judith N. DeSena

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Uzun, N. (2020). Residential Transformation Leading to Gentrification: Cases from Istanbul. In: Krase, J., DeSena, J. (eds) Gentrification around the World, Volume I. Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41337-8_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41337-8_10

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