Kent çeperinde sosyal altyapı yoksunluğu: İstanbul’daki Esenler İlçesi Örneği

Abstract

This study investigates the close connection between social class and urban space. Although the worldwide inflation wave had significant implications for studies in sociology, economics, and politics, it was mostly ignored by urbanists and geographers. To fill this gap, we are searching for the spatial reflection of unfair distribution of income in the gap between the centre and the periphery, which we discuss as a form of urban inequality. We raised questions about how economic inequalities affect the urban age in which we live. In what ways do these socioeconomic crises manifest themselves in urban space? To provide an empirical explanation for these, the social infrastructure in Esenler District, which is mostly composed of rural immigrants and working-class people in Istanbul's periphery, was compared to other districts. The database, created from various data sources and satellite images, is presented with thematic maps. According to the findings, unlike the wealthy central districts of Istanbul, the periphery has tremendous social infrastructure gaps. This inequality is manifested in four ways: education, health, recreational, and housing. In Esenler, where the level of education is quite low, kindergartens are totally inadequate for pre-school education, classes are overcrowded in elementary and secondary schools, and students has only to attend high schools with very low average success rates. Second, Esenler has six clinics and poor health services compared to central districts. Thirdly, in a densely populated area with unplanned and dense construction, green space cannot meet recreational needs. Due to low purchasing power, Esenler's natural gas consumption is lower than in central districts, despite its crowded households. With all these findings, the deprived and marginalised peoples of the periphery, who have been left behind by Istanbul, a "global city, tourism destination, and cosmopolitan," lack the fundamental social infrastructure services needed to sustain the city.