Neoliberalization of social housing in Turkey :|the case of Kayaşehir

Abstract

This thesis investigates the transformations in the realm of social housing in Turkey in the AKP era. Using the theoretical framework provided by critical urban geographers, which asserts that neoliberalization processes include both commodifying and marketizinig and context-specific properties, it sets to decipher the properties of neoliberalization of social housing in Turkey. It finds that the transformations in the realm of social housing in the AKP era include the demise of the housing cooperatives and gecekondus, and the rise of urban transformation projects in the gecekondu areas on the one hand, and the initiation of the social housing program of TOKİ on the other. While investigating these transformations, it finds three properties of neoliberalization of social housing in Turkey, namely commodification and marketization, increasing power and capabilities of the state and redistribution. Finally, it traces the manifestations of these three properties of neoliberalization of social housing in the largest social housing project of TOKİ, namely Kayaşehir.