The Case of Izmir
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THE POLITICAL CONSTRUCTION OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS: THE CASE OF IZMIR A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY MEHMET PENPECİOĞLU IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF URBAN POLICY PLANNING AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS JULY 2012 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Meliha ALTUNIŞIK Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Assoc. Prof. Dr. H. Çağatay KESKİNOK Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Assoc. Prof. Dr. H. Çağatay KESKiNOK Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. Melih ERSOY (METU, CRP) Assoc. Prof. Dr. H. Çağatay KESKiNOK (METU, CRP) Assist. Prof. Dr. Mustafa BAYIRBAĞ (METU, PSPA) Assist. Prof. Dr. Osman BALABAN (METU, CRP) Assist. Prof. Dr. Tolga ÇİLİNGİR (DEU, CRP) PLAGIARISM I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name : Mehmet Penpecioğlu Signature : iii ABSTRACT THE POLITICAL CONSTRUCTION OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS: THE CASE OF IZMIR Penpecioğlu, Mehmet Ph.D., Department of Urban Policy Planning and Local Governments Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. H. Çağatay Keskinok July 2012, 373 pages Urban Development Projects (UDPs) have become hegemonic projects of redefining urban political priorities. The political construction of UDPs could not only be investigated through analyzing capital accumulation processes. To reveal how UDPs are politically constructed, this thesis investigates how governmental and non-governmental agents form a hegemonic block to mobilize hegemonic discursive practices and coercive-legislative mechanisms in the formation of UDPs. A Lefebvrian-inspired neo-Gramscian theoretical perspective is formulated to overcome economic determinist and voluntarist agent-oriented approaches. Critical realist methodology is adopted with combining deductive and inductive strategies and qualitative and quantitative methods. In the first stage of research, the thesis critically and comparatively reviews the politics of different UDPs from different countries and then deduces initial arguments from this review. In the second stage, these arguments are reconsidered in the light of the empirical evidence of the case study. New City Center and İnciraltı Tourism Center Development Projects from İzmir are investigated in the case study through critical discourse analysis, questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The case study reveals how governmental and non-governmental agents collaborate to mobilize public support and consent for UDPs. The concept of “capacity to produce consent” is proposed to theorize hegemonically constructed discourses, activities and relations of governmental and non-governmental agents. However this hegemonically constructed capacity is not the iv only base of political power. Legislative interventions operate as coercive mechanisms and play key roles in the implementation of UDPs. UDPs are politically constructed by the complementary relation and differential articulation of hegemonically constructed capacities and coercive-legislative mechanisms. Keywords: politics of urban development, hegemony, hegemonic project, the production of space, urban development projects v ÖZ KENTSEL GELİŞME PROJELERİNİN SİYASAL İNŞASI: İZMİR ÖRNEĞİ Penpecioğlu, Mehmet Ph.D., Kentsel Politika Planlaması ve Yerel Yönetimler Anabilim Dalı Tez Yöneticisi: Assoc. Prof. Dr. H. Çağatay Keskinok Temmuz 2012, 373 sayfa Kentsel Gelişme Projeleri (KGP) kentsel siyasal öncelikleri yeniden tanımlayan hegemonik projeler haline gelmektedir. KGP’nin siyasal inşası yalnızca sermaye birikimi süreçlerini analiz ederek incelenemez. KGP’nin siyasal olarak nasıl inşa edildiğini ortaya çıkarmak amacıyla bu tez hükümete ait ve hükümet dışı aktörlerin hegemonik söylemsel pratikler ve zorlayıcı-yasa yapıcı mekanizmaları harekete geçirmek için nasıl hegemonik bir blok oluşturduğunu incelemektedir. Tez, ekonomik determinist ve iradi aktör-yönelimli yaklaşımları aşmak için Lefebvre’den esinlenmiş neo-Gramscigil bir teorik perspektif formüle etmiştir. Tümdengelimci ve tümevarımcı stratejiler ve niteliksel ve niceliksel yöntemler birleştirilerek eleştirel gerçekçi metodoloji benimsenmiştir. Araştırmanın ilk aşamasında, tez eleştirel ve karşılaştırmalı olarak farklı ülkelerden farklı KGP’nin siyasetini yeniden incelemiş ve sonrasında bu incelemeden başlangıç argümanlarını ortaya çıkarmıştır. İkinci aşamada, bu argümanlar örnek çalışmanın ampirik bulguları ışığında yeniden düşünülmüştür. İzmir’den Yeni Kent Merkezi ve İnciraltı Turizm Merkezi Gelişme Projeleri örnek olay incelemesinde eleştirel söylem analizi, anketler ve derinlemesine görüşmelerle araştırılmıştır. Örnek olay incelemesi, hükümete ait ve hükümet dışı aktörlerin KGP için kamu desteğini ve rızayı harekete geçirme amacıyla nasıl işbirliği yaptığını ortaya çıkarmıştır. Hükümete ait ve hükümet dışı aktörlerin hegemonik olarak inşa edilen söylemleri, eylemleri ve ilişkilerini kuramlaştırmak için “rıza oluşturucu kapasite” kavramı önerilmiştir. Ancak, hegemonik olarak inşa edilen bu kapasite siyasal gücün tek dayanağı değildir. Yasa yapıcı vi müdahaleler zorlayıcı mekanizmalar olarak kullanılmakta ve KGP’nin uygulanmasında kilit roller oynamaktadır. KGP, hegemonik olarak inşa edilen kapasitelerin ve zorlayıcı-yasa yapıcı mekanizmaların tamamlayıcı ilişkisi ve farklılaşan eklemlenmesi ile siyasal olarak inşa edilmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: kentsel gelişmenin siyaseti, hegemonya, hegemonik proje, mekanın üretimi, kentsel gelişme projeleri vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT There are different people contributed to this thesis in different stages of research. This thesis is the product of contributions and efforts of these people. Firstly, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. H. Çağatay Keskinok for his guidance, encouragement and insight throughout the research. He did not only supervise this thesis, but has always inspired me as a role model academician, urban planner and political activist. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Prof. Dr. Melih Ersoy and Assist. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Kemal Bayırbağ for their contributions, criticism and support for the completion of this study. As the members of thesis monitoring committee, they provide key insights and suggestions for this thesis in different stages of research. The examining committee members Assist. Prof. Dr. Osman Balaban and Assist. Prof. Dr. Tolga Çilingir are also acknowledged for their valuable contributions and comments. I would like to thank to Assoc. Prof. Dr. H. Tarık Şengül who provide me new paths of critical thinking on the politics of urban development. I would also want to express my thanks to Prof. Dr. Baykan Günay, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Adnan Barlas and to all the staff of CRP4 Planning Studio, from whom I have learned a lot during my assistantship in METU. I would like to thank to all assistants of UPL. As my friends, they provided moral support and motivation which greatly helped me to complete this thesis. I gratefully express my appreciation to Ayhan Melih Tezcan and Ufuk Poyraz for their reviews, comments and corrections. Special thanks to my dear friends Ekrem Ayalp, Mehmet Can Aldan and Gökhan Hüseyin Erkan for their efforts and support in the case study of this thesis. They helped me a lot and showed great efforts in the organization of urban field survey and application of questionnaires. I also want to express my thanks to CRP undergraduate students from Middle East Technical University and İzmir Institute of Technology for their efforts in the application of questionnaires in İzmir. Case study research of this thesis was organized as a METU Scientific Research Project. Therefore, financial support of METU played a facilitative role in the application of questionnaires and in-depth interviews in İzmir. viii I am fully indebted to my parents Necdet and Nesrin Penpecioğlu and to my sister Pınar Alper. They trust and support me in many aspects throughout this study and in my life. Special thanks to my little niece Nil Alper, who has been a source of happiness for me during this study. Finally, my dear wife Elçin Barın Penpecioğlu deserves special thanks. Words could not tell how she encourage and support me during this study. She contributed to this thesis by reading and reviewing every single sentence and making key suggestions and comments. Most importantly, she provided moral support, motivation and encouragement in every stages of this thesis. Without her support and contributions, this study would not have been completed. I sincerely dedicate this work to her. Thanks my precious Elçin for being in my life. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ............................................................................................................................. İİİ ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................ İV ÖZ ...........................................................................................................................................