University College London Faculty of the Built Environment - Bartlett School of Planning An Investigation on the Relationship Between Capitalism and Formation of Urban Injustices: The Case of Organised Food Retailers in Ankara PhD Thesis Ahmet Burak Büyükcivelek Principal supervisor: Michael Edwards, UCL Secondary supervisor: Prof. Nick Phelps, UCL London – September 2014 0 I, Ahmet Burak Büyükcivelek confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis.' 1 ABSTRACT The research examines whether organised food retail formats contribute to the formation of urban inequalities and if this is the case to see how this contribution is realised. Conventional approaches are found only to produce partial explanations and the research thus followed a Marxist methodology. With this comprehensive and also critical approach, it aims to first contextualise retail activities within the broader system of capitalist political economy and within the urbanisation process and investigates how inequalities are transferred between these systems. Initial researches suggested that the capitalist system, urbanisation process and retail production processes are tightly linked to each other. Further, inequalities created in the production processes are reflected in the urbanisation process. The research focuses on some particular elements to empirically test the theoretical findings in the neo-liberal era. The case of organised food retailers is taken as an exemplar activity both representing the key aspects of the capitalist system and urbanisation process. The case of Ankara (Turkey) is chosen as the spatial focus. Ankara, in addition to being the second largest city in Turkey, carries the privilege of having the largest active retail area per capita in Turkey. Furthermore, as a result of its stable employment profile the city is not only attractive for financial institutions but for other investors as well. All these are among the factors which make the city of Ankara a very interesting place to analyse the dynamics of capitalist political economy, the development of organised food retail landscapes and injustices born with the interaction of these processes. The empirical part of the research concentrates on spatial differentiations in Ankara’s organised food retail pattern and to discover the underlying reasons. It focuses on the relationship between the observed organised food retail geography and socio-economic characteristics of the neighbourhoods. The findings reveal that retailers tend to locate at most advantageous locations, reinforce established socio-economic differentiations and thus consolidate urban injustices with their selective locational preferences. Key words: urban inequalities, organised food retailing, retail planning, Marxist political economy, Ankara, Turkey. 2 In memory of Hasan Ali Yücel and İsmail Hakkı Tonguç, two inspiring utopian realists.. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor Michael Edwards who provided all the support that a PhD student may need in the long process of study. I would like to thank to Dr. Cassidy Johnson and Prof. Dr. Pavlos M Delladetsimas first for accepting being parts of the examination committee and for their constructive, positive feedbacks that contributed to the enhancement of the thesis at the final stage of the PhD. I can never forget the support and encouragement of my family. Thank you; Türkan the “mommy” Büyükcivelek, Fırat the “bro”, Banu “his beautiful wife” and İrem the “melek” and “smile of my life”. I would like to thank to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Olgu Çalışkan who not only shared the same PhD destiny with me but also never let me alone during seven years of research. Now, it is time to work together. Very special thanks to Prof. Dr. H. Çağatay Keskinok, who never ceased to encourage me and who has long been my role model not only in academics but also for life. I wish to express my thanks to Prof. Dr. Oguz Işık, Prof. Dr. Serap Kayasu, Yalçın Demirtaş and Prof. Dr. Stephen Marshall for both their academic and moral support. My old friend Cevat Yıldırım; My colleagues at METU: Duygu Cihanger and Ender Peker; My colleagues at UCL: Alexandra Gomes, Wesley Aelbrecht, Dr. Patricia Simoes Aelbrecht, Dr. Amparo Vento Tarazona, Diego Garcia Mejuto, Daniel Fitzpatrick, Gualtiero Bonvino, Juliana Martins, Dr. Chia-Lin Chen, Dr. Elisabete Cidre, Aaron Mo, Dr. Lucy Natarajan and Arata Yamamato; Thank you very very much for your accompany during the past seven years of my life. I hope we will have much more time to spend together and to support each other. Thank you Don, Norwegian girl at the pub, football players at Regents Park; Thanks to Tate Modern, South Bank, Old Street and Stoke Newington Church Street; Thanks to second hand book stores, Guinness Extra Cold and pastries of Grodzinski; Thanks to my green bike, pavements of London and tiny sunlight penetrating dark clouds. 4 CONTENTS ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... 2 FIGURES .............................................................................................................................10 MAPS ...................................................................................................................................11 TABLES ...............................................................................................................................12 GRAPHICS ..........................................................................................................................13 1. INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................15 1.1. The Research Context ...............................................................................................15 1.2. The Research Gap ....................................................................................................16 1.3. Research Methodology ..............................................................................................18 1.4. Determination of Research Extensions ......................................................................19 1.5. Aims of the Thesis, Hypotheses and Research Questions .........................................20 1.6. Structure of the Thesis ...............................................................................................22 1.7. Findings and Contribution ..........................................................................................26 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................................29 2.1. Theories Focusing on the Urbanisation Process ........................................................30 2.1.1. Ecological Theories.............................................................................................30 2.1.2. Normative Spatial Theories: Central Place Theory (CPT) and Spatial Interaction Models (SIMs) ..............................................................................................................35 2.1.3. Postmodern Approaches ....................................................................................41 2.2. Theories Focusing on Retailing and Its Components .................................................45 2.2.1. Retailing Based Approaches ...............................................................................47 2.2.1.1. Economic Theories ......................................................................................47 2.2.1.2. Theory of the Firm ........................................................................................49 2.2.2. Consumers and Consumption Based Studies .....................................................50 2.2.2.1. Behavioural Approaches ..............................................................................50 2.2.2.2 Consumption Studies in the Cultural Turn .....................................................51 2.2.3. Commodity Chains, Cycles and Systems İn The Cultural Turn ...........................54 2.2.4. The Production Process in The Cultural Turn .....................................................55 2.3. Theories Concentrating on The Political Aspects and Urban Injustices ......................55 2.3.1. Collective Consumption Studies..........................................................................56 2.3.2. Splintering Urban Infrastructure Provision ...........................................................58 2.3.3. Disadvantaged Consumers and Food Deserts ....................................................60 2.4. Conclusions ...............................................................................................................66 5 3. MARXIST METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................71 3.1. Marxism .....................................................................................................................72 3.1.1. Historical Materialism ..........................................................................................73 3.1.2. Marxist Dialectics or Dialectical Materialism ........................................................75 3.1.2.1. Philosophy of Internal Relations: The Relationship Between the Totality and Its Parts ....................................................................................................................76