EFFECTS OF CHANGING BOUNDARIES OF MUNICIPALITIES ON MUNICIPAL SERVICE PROVISION: WATER AND SEWAGE SERVICES IN HATAY A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY DUYGU CANAN BOZCUK IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF URBAN POLICY PLANNING AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FEBRUARY 2020 i Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Yaşar KONDAKÇI Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Prof. Dr. H. Tarık ŞENGÜL 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. Prof. Dr. Melih ERSOY Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. Osman BALABAN (METU, CRP) Prof. Dr. Melih ERSOY (METU, CRP) Prof. Dr. Çağatay KESKİNOK (METU, CRP) Prof. Dr. Tayfun ÇINAR (Ankara Uni., SBK) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ayşe Ç. YALDIZ (AYBU, PSPA) ii 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 : Duygu Canan Bozcuk Signature : iii ABSTRACT EFFECTS OF CHANGING BOUNDARIES OF MUNICIPALITIES ON MUNICIPAL SERVICE PROVISION: WATER AND SEWAGE SERVICES IN HATAY Bozcuk, Duygu Canan Ph.D., Department of Urban Policy Planning and Local Governments Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Melih Ersoy February 2020, 333 pages In Turkey, inefficiencies in municipal service provision have been always attributed to the size of municipalities. Particularly since the 2000s, the boundaries of the municipalities have been changed through successive legal arrangements with the aim of increasing municipal service provision. The final and most important amendment about rescaling municipalities was enacted through the Law No 6360 in 2012 which established 14 new metropolitan municipalities in Turkey. Also with this law, boundaries of the metropolitan municipalities were expanded to correspond to provincial boundaries, the small scale municipalities and villages were abolished and certain municipal services were delegated to the metropolitan municipalities. The major assertion of the Law No 6360 was that changing municipal boundaries would result in increasing efficient service provision through using less resource, decreasing cost of the services and improving quality of the service. The major aim of this dissertation is to determine the effects of changing municipal boundaries on municipal services. The research area is Hatay Metropolitan Municipality which was established by the Law No 6360. This dissertation focuses on water and sewage services of Hatay which was delegated to metropolitan municipality by the law. The research questions are about relation between scale and service provision and the sub-questions are about positive and negative effects of the boundary changes on water and wastewater services in Hatay. At the end, this dissertation finds out if the Law No 6360 has achieved its goals in Hatay and reveals real aims and objectives of the law. Keywords: Municipal boundaries, scale, service provision, efficiency, water and sewage services iv ÖZ BELEDİYELERİN SINIRLARININ DEĞİŞTİRİLMESİNİN BELEDİYELERİN HİZMET SUNUMU ÜZERİNE ETKİLERİ: HATAY’DA SU VE KANALİZASYON HİZMETLERİ Bozcuk, Duygu Canan Doktora, Kentsel Politika Planlaması ve Yerel Yönetimler Anabilim Dalı Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Melih Ersoy Şubat 2020, 333 sayfa Türkiye’de, belediyelerin hizmet sunumundaki yetersizliklerin nedeni olarak belediyelerin büyüklüğü gösterilmektedir. Özellikle 2000li yıllardan bu yana, belediyelerde hizmet sunumunu artırma amacıyla bir dizi yasal düzenlemeyle belediyelerin sınırları değiştirilmektedir. Belediyeleri yeniden ölçeklendiren en son ve en önemli düzenleme 2012 yılında çıkarılan ve Türkiye’de 14 yeni büyükşehir belediyesi kuran 6360 sayılı yasa olmuştur. Bu yasayla birlikte ayrıca, büyükşehir belediyelerinin sınırlarını il sınırlarına kadar genişletilmiş, belde belediyelerinin ve köylerin tüzel kişiliğine son verilmiş ve bazı belediye hizmetleri büyükşehir belediyelerine devredilmiştir. 6360 sayılı yasanın en önemli gerekçesi, belediyelerin sınırlarının değiştirilmesiyle, daha az kaynak kullanma, hizmetlerin maliyetlerini düşürme ve hizmetlerin kalitesini artırma yoluyla belediyelerin hizmet sunumunda verimlilik artışı sağlanacağıdır. Bu tezin temel amacı, belediyelerin sınırlarının değiştirilmesinin hizmet sunumu üzerindeki etkilerini ortaya çıkarmaktır. Tezin araştırma sahası 6360 sayılı yasayla kurulan Hatay Büyükşehir Belediyesidir. Tez Hatay’da, yasayla birlikte büyükşehir belediyelerine devredilen su ve kanalizasyon hizmetlerini incelemektedir. Tezin araştırma soruları ölçek ve hizmet sunumu arasındaki ilişki ve alt soruları belediyelerin sınırlarının değiştirilmesinin Hatay’da su ve kanalizasyon hizmetleri üzerine olumlu ve olumsuz etkileri üzerindedir. Çalışmanın sonunda, 6360 sayılı yasanın hedeflerinin Hatay’da gerçekleşip gerçekleşmediği ve yasanın asıl amaç ve hedeflerinin neler olduğu ortaya koyulacaktır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Belediye sınırları, ölçek, hizmet sunumu, verimlilik, su ve kanalizasyon hizmetleri v To My Son Ayhan Tan vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Melih Ersoy for his guidance, advice, criticism, encouragement and insight throughout the research. In our UPL family, he is our father taking us under his wings. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Prof. Dr. Osman Balaban, Prof. Dr. Tayfun Çınar, Prof. Dr. Çağatay Keskinok, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Kemal Bayırbağ and Assist. Prof. Dr. Ayşe Çolpan Yaldız. As the members of monitoring committee, they make suggestions for this dissertation throughout the research. I would also want to thank to Prof. Dr. H. Tarık Şengül who provide me new paths of critical thinking on urban politics. Special thanks to Can Ersoy for his correction in English academic writing of this dissertation. I would like to thank to all assistants of UPL, Merve Hatiçoğlu, Eren Can Yücel, Aslı Gürtunca and Dilan Çetinkaya. They provided moral support to complete this thesis. I gratefully express my appreciation to Ufuk Poyraz and Ayhan Melih Tezcan for their good fellowship and contributions to my academic studies. I would also thank to my dear friends Duygu Tanış Zaferoğlu and Kıymet Göktepe for their efforts and supports. Special thanks to my cousin Duygu Dudu Azman Özer for her supports. I am fully grateful to my parents Dudu Vural and Abdullah Öztürk, and to my brother Cihan Öztürk. They always trust and support me throughout my academic career. Special thanks to my niece Tuna Öztürk, who made important contributions to my study. Finally, my dear husband Ozan Bozcuk deserves many special thanks. He made various contributions to this dissertation throughout the field researh. I was pregnant during the case study and gave birth on July 25, 2019. I sincerely dedicate this work to our son Ayhan Tan Bozcuk. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM……………………………………………………………………………….iii ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………….iv ÖZ…………………………………………………………………………………………….v DEDICATION……………………………………………………………………………….vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………………vii TABLE OF CONTENT…………………………………………………………………….viii LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………………….xiii LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………………………xvi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………………………...xvii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................1 1.1. Research Questions and Initial Hypotheses ................................................................. 2 1.2. Aim and Scope of the Study ......................................................................................... 4 1.3. Selection of the Case Study .......................................................................................... 6 1.4. Research Method of the Study ..................................................................................... 6 1.5. Methodology of the Study ............................................................................................ 9 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................................18 2.1. Nature and History of Public Service .......................................................................... 19 2.2. Impacts of (De)centralization on the Public Service .................................................. 22 2.3. Effects of Privatization on Public Services ................................................................ 26 2.4. Internal Factors Affecting Municipal Service Provision ............................................ 31 2.4.1. Leadership of the Municipal Mayor .................................................................. 31 2.4.2. Structure of the Municipal Council ................................................................... 32 2.4.3. Organizational Culture ...................................................................................... 33 2.4.4. Ethical Principles of the Municipality ............................................................... 34 2.5. External Factors Effecting Public Service ................................................................