Commercial and Urban Changes in İzmir

14 The commercial and cultural activities in İzmir in the 18th and 19th centuries were influential in shaping İzmir in the 20th and 21st centuries. Through the Port of İzmir, developments in the economy of the world, Mediterranean, Ottoman, Turkey and İzmir at different scales have been interact with each other (Kaya, 2010:44). Port of İzmir, which has been home to ships since the 16th century and provides products circulation around İzmir and the world, plays a major role in the development of the city as a business center and a big city. According to Kıray, İzmir, “It is evident that the unique transportation and communication system of the single big city phenomenon, which is based on an agricultural production structure with simple technology, but which integrates a regional economy connected to an intensive trade outward, emerges as the settlement place of socio-economic organizations with its transportation and communication characteristic” (Kıray, 1972:33). Commercial activities in the port affected the city’s economy as well as the social structure and settlement in the city. The increase in the accumulation of foreign trade and fund has allowed the investment such as the regulation of streets in the urban space, the establishment of water, electricity and gas companies, the start of the operation of railways. (Kaya, 2010:61). In order to store and export the products such as cotton, tobacco, grapes and figs produced in and around İzmir, inns and storages are located around and back of the port, and highways and railways have been constructed to facilitate access to it. Alsancak Station, which was operated by the British in the 19th century, was the beginning of the İzmir-Aydın Line connecting to the Mediterranean, and the Basmane Station operated by the French was the beginning of the Kasaba Line, which provides connection to Kasaba Line. After the 1950s, the port was foreseen to be developed and new storages and institutions were built at the back of the port.

The position of İzmir Port in foreign and domestic trade has been affected by economic, political and social factors affecting the whole world such as wars and crises and experienced periods of stagnation and ascension. After the 1930s, railway lines and some companies, which were under the management of foreign companies, were nationalized. Although development plans have been prepared by the State Planning Organization, İzmir has not been affected by these developments economically. After Second World War, İzmir has received a significant share of loan and infrastructure assistance within the scope of Marshall Aid and together with the industry investment loans provided by the Turkey Industrial Development Bank, food, textile, chemical,

15 cement, iron and steel enterprises have been established (Kaya, 2010:89). In the 1950s, due to these developments in the industrial fields and the employment of workers, an intensive migration from the rural started in İzmir. However, after the 1980s, the number of export in İzmir increased with the introduction of neoliberal economic policies, this increase remained below the increase in overall Turkey has caused a decline in the share of Turkey’s economy (Kaya, 2010:71). With the shift of industry to Marmara Region as years passed, declines started to be experienced in the industry and export in İzmir and since 2004 the companies in İzmir started to export deficit. The city, which has undergone some breaks from the 16th century to the 21st century, has entered a different period since the 21st century. These continuities and breaks in the economy have affected the people living in the city, the emergence of different income groups and the settlement arrangements in the city in each period.

After the 1950s, all the ridges of the İzmir Bay began to be filled with gecekondus, and bus and minibus lines emerged in order to provide urban transportation for the increasing population. In the 1970s, according to Vedat Dalokay’s statement of

“The coasts are the property of everyone, everyone living in the society should be able to reach it” the coasts began to be surrounded by roads instead of being closed with mansions (Tekeli, 2011:325). In the following periods, the coasts started to be filled and the mansions along the coast line were demolished and apartments were built instead.

Both the apartment buildings built by the build-sell sector and the gecekondus meeting the housing needs of the migrants have shifted to another settlement type in the city.

After the 1980s, in line with the neoliberal economy policy, the state investments were replaced by the private sector, and the dominant agricultural and industrial business areas in the city started to be replaced by the service sector. This situation caused the lower income group of the society to become more impoverished and the working areas within the city to be narrowed. The gecekondu settlements formed around the industrial areas in the city have become collapsed areas with the closure of industrial areas over time. As it can be seen, urbanization and space affects the transportation, trade, social life and the changes realized in them transform the urbanization and space in the city.

The reason why these urban transformations in İzmir and the poor’s gecekondu settlements, which occupy large areas in the city, are formed should not be sought only on poor individuals. Commercial changes, political attitudes, urban policies and

16 changing socio-cultural life have an impact on these urban and spatial transformations.

With the effect of neoliberal policies, İzmir has undergone a new transformation since 2000 and the gecekondu areas, which cover large areas in the city center and turn into rent areas, have started to be demolished under the name of “urban transformation”

studies. The reasons of these new transformation processes and their effects in İzmir will be examined in Chapter 3.