Transforming buildings, reorienting lives

The desire for gentrification in Istanbul

Bibliographic Data

ID11670570
AuthorsCenk Özbay (0000-0002-6112-3878, Deptartment of Cultural Studies, Sabancı University, Istanbul, Turkey, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume45
Issue3
Pages411-432
Publication date2023-03-17
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueUrban Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0272-3638 • E-ISSN: 1938-2847
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02723638.2023.2190265
OpenAlexW4327739856
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited52

How do the marginalized middle-lower-class residents of a neighborhood yearn for and participate in gentrification? In Istanbul, the low-quality building stock and risk of earthquakes intensifies the need for urban transformation, making it seem inevitable and desirable. This article focuses on the experience of gentrification in the Hasanpaşa neighborhood of Istanbul, using an intersectional lens to discuss how the locals, who cultivate a reorienting agency, give consent and aspire for urban change. A form of aspirational normativity emerges among the locals, driving the positive affect around the ideal and materiality of renewal – exemplified by the transformation of an abandoned power plant into a cultural complex. The case of Hasanpaşa shows that we need to take into account the different starting points, multiple contextual features, and intersecting social positions in order to have a more complete understanding of the landscapes of urban change

Aesthetics · Agency (philosophy · Art · Economic geography · Economic growth · Economics · Gentrification · Geography · Ideal (ethics · Materiality (auditing · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Stock (firearms · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Turkey's Politics and Society · Urban Planning and Governance