Regeneration or Degeneration? An Untold Story of Urban Change in Turkish Metropolitan Cities

Abstract

In the year 1999, a high-intensity earthquake hit Turkey and caused massive damage and destruction. After this earthquake, the stakeholders of urban development realized the fact that the possibilities for such losses in Turkish cities are relatively high due to the low physical qualities of building stock. Depending on a broad consensus, urban regeneration appeared as the strongest option by replacing unqualified buildings with the qualified ones, which increased the numbers of both theoretical studies focusing on urban regeneration and urban regeneration projects. The dominance of urban regeneration on urban planning, however, does not mean that they are problem-free in Turkish case. There is a theoretical ambiguity about the definition, input-output, and processes of urban regeneration which causes certain problems related to the economic and social dimensions of cities. With reference to many cases, it can be easily said that the costs of these problems are more than the benefits of urban regeneration projects. In this respect, this study aims to concentrate on the problems of urban regeneration practices to understand whether urban regeneration projects create a kind of urban degeneration. In the first part, there are basic theoretical discussions about urban regeneration. The second part is about a historical description of urban regeneration in the Turkish context by focusing especially on the methods and priorities in different periods since they are important by understanding the ongoing processes of urban regeneration. The third part concentrates on the problems of urban regeneration with reference to its underestimated economic and social dimensions. The conclusion of the study aims to discuss the potential qualities of urban regeneration in Turkish context and to determine possible modifications in the processes, priorities, and principles of existing urban regeneration practices so that the possibility of urban degeneration could decrease.