City and Urbanization in İzmir

According to the definition of Tekeli, the city is “a type of settlement where non-agricultural production is carried out and all production is controlled, its distribution is coordinated, brought together by certain technology and reached levels of size, density, heterogeneity and integration” (Tekeli, 2011:20). And again, according to the definition of Tekeli, urbanization is “the increase in the degree of integration of size, density and heterogeneity as a result of increasing non-agricultural production rate in a settlement or settlements of a country and intensifying the control and coordination of all production”

(Tekeli, 2011:20).

18 Cities reflect the social and cultural characteristics, economic status and political attitude of the society to which they belong. The growth and development of cities are closely related to their values, production power and economy. In İzmir, as been a port city, it was inevitable gecekondu settlements since industrialization increased and urbanization could not meet the housing needs of people who migrated from the rural through migration. Migrants were affected by the city as well as the city was affected by them and, this interaction is still continuing. The urbanization concept should be considered with the city. Once the city has reached a certain level, urbanization should be seen as a change of the city in a certain direction (Tekeli, 2011:16). In İzmir’s urbanization, the fact that it is a port city and industrial areas have important effects on both the settlement type and the types of space and the socio-cultural life. “Industrial capital, which dominated the city, reorganized the city according to the logic of developing capitalism” (Tekeli, 2011:33).

Rural to urban migration has a close relationship with urbanization. Migrations have been realized due to reasons such as fragmentation and insufficient agricultural land, mechanization in agriculture, insufficient health and education in the rural and, job opportunities in industry and trade, education, health and infrastructure services and high living standards provided by the city. Even today, the positive and negative effects can be seen of this situation both in rural and urban areas.

When we examine the process of gecekondus in İzmir, the first ones started appearing in the 1930s and this process continued until the 2000s (Karadağ and Mirioğlu, 2014:47). As stated by Karadağ and Mirioğlu, the first examples of gecekondus in İzmir were Yeşildere, Yeni İstiklal, Zeytinlik and I. Kadriye neighborhoods between Buca and Basmane. In the same period, Cumhuriyet Neighborhood and Naldöken also emerged as gecekondu settlements between Basmane and Çiğli. From the 1940s to the 1950s, new gecekondu settlements such as II. Kadriye, Gürçeşme, Boğaziçi, Gültepe, Ferahlı have emerged and the intensity of existing neighborhoods has started increaseing (Karadağ and Mirioğlu, 2014:47-48). When we examine the process of gecekondus in İzmir, between the years 1950-1960, the gecekondu has shown a slow and limited increase in parallel with the urban economy which started to mobilize. The neighborhoods around the Meles Creek such as Ballıkuyu, Gürçeşme and Kadifekale, which are close to the city center, have started to

19 be reshaped with gecekondus. Between the years 1960-1985, with the realization of mechanization in agriculture in rural areas and the industrial sector in the city to offer job opportunities, gecekondus started to spread to different neighborhoods and districts of the city. Yeşildere became a region where the workers built their gecekondus for shelter because of the leather factories and other industrial establishments that existed around the Meles Creek during this period. It was stated that the Mayor İhsan Alyanak, who served in the period from 1973 to the military coup in 1980, gave title deeds to most of the gecekondus on which extra floors were added or newly built (Çetin, 2012 as cited from Kılıç and Göksu, 2018:207). After 1985, the city continued to allow migrants due to the increasing number of business areas and the old gecekondu areas became increasingly crowded and expanding. In the past, the gecekondus were located close to the city center where the industry was active, but recently increased in areas such as Buca, Narlıdere and Güzelbahçe (Türkçü, Gökmen, Kaya, Süer, Onat, Sönmez, Günhan: 16-17). After 1985, local government started housing projects such as Evka, İzkent, Gaziemir and Uzundere TOKİ especially in recent years, in order to reduce the gecekondu movement and to ensure that the citizen has an affordable housing in a healthy physical infrastructure. The gecekondu settlements, which increased rapidly until 1985, became as a transition settlement spatially and socio-culturally, because of the characteristics of both rural and urban areas. Gecekondus have become a new way of life in the city.

Figure 1. Gecekondu areas varying according to years and distribution of mass housing in İzmir (Karadağ and Mirioğlu, 2014:48).

20 In recent years, land speculation has started to occur on the gecekondu settlement areas in the city center such as Kadifekale, Yeşildere, Ballıkuyu and Bayraklı. Both gecekondu dwellers and real estate investors are looking for ways to make a profit from rent. While these areas are seen as unsolicited and unsafe areas by modern citizens due to the bad image they create in the city, the private sector and investors are looking for ways to capture these areas and turn them into rent. In this context, the decisions and attitudes of the local government are very important in providing physically healthy, budget-friendly housing with infrastructure services to the people living in that neighborhoods and preventing the transformation of the city for the profit of investors.