The making and unmaking of Tarlabasi, Istanbul: an account of territorial stigmatisation

Abstract

Territorial stigmatisation has been drawing attention in the past decade as an important concept in analysing the bad reputation of run-down neighbourhoods and how this bad reputation is used and produced by state agencies. Especially, the links between territorial stigmatisation and urban policies that are followed by state-led gentrification processes have been an emerging discussion in this analysis of understanding the phenomenon of stigmatised places. This paper aims to examine the links and relationships between the concepts of territorial stigmatisation, state-led gentrification and state power in the neighbourhood of Tarlabasi in historic Istanbul. The questions this paper responds to through the analysis of Tarlabasi are: What were the motivations of agencies of power to mobilise stigmatisation of Tarlabasi during urban renewal projects? Why did territorial stigmatisation increase during processes of state-led gentrification? How did the inhabitants of Tarlabasi behave in the face of increased stigma? The paper concludes with reflections on the use of territorial stigmatisation as a tool and accelerator for urban renewal/regeneration/transformation projects as well as its use as a mechanism by which to procure consent from the public.

State‐led Gentrification Against the Backdrop of Urban Authoritarian Practices

“…To capture this rent gap, they successfully pushed through a series of changes to existing regulations, and the local authorities eventually allowed the area to become a development of luxury residences with a shopping mall while the former residents continued to live in slum conditions. The same occurred in Istanbul, where the local municipality and real estate developers collectively realized that a historically rundown neighbourhood (again actively disinvested) was not being used to its ‘highest and best’ potential, and therefore implemented a large urban regeneration project that ended up displacing all the original residents to the periphery of the city (Can, 2020; 2021).…”

Global Authoritarianism

“…Squatter areas were targeted initially, but subsequently deteriorating inner-city regions became the focus of urban regeneration efforts (Batuman 2015). As neoliberal urban policies grew more prevalent, formerly destitute and 'undesirable' but historically significant regions of Istanbul's inner city became increasingly valuable, attracting domestic and foreign investment-Tarlabaşı, Bomonti, Sulukule, Talimhane, and so on (Can 2021). Newly constructed high-rise apartments and luxury shopping malls all suggested that the real estate and construction sector was becoming a lucrative capital venture environment, as Neil Smith previously remarked (2002, 446).…”