MEGA-PROJECTS IN PRODUCTION OF NATURE IN TÜRKİYE: SOCIO-NATURAL METABOLISM OF İŞKENCEDERE VALLEY

Date

2023-12-11

Author

Şanlı, Simla

Metadata

Show full item record

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Item Usage Stats

244
views

562
downloads

Cite This

This study examines socio-spatial production processes through the faculties of the production of nature, which could offer an alternative mindset in understanding society-nature relationships at large. In respect to the elements of critical urban geography, the concept of the production of nature claims that nature is social and thus our relationship with nature is always political. Within the said framework, the study questions the production processes of a mega-project, specifically the İyidere Logistics Port Project, which can be regarded as an outcome of Türkiye’s ongoing neoliberal policies since the 1980s. Thus, the focus of this thesis is Cevizlik Basalt Quarry in İşkencedere Valley in Rize, which is proposed for extraction of raw material for the coastal land reclamation area of the logistics port. Not only the area’s natural qualities but also its socio-spatial patterns are now at stake due to the construction in the valley, which has been continuing since April 2021. Entire processes involved in the mining processes of the stone quarry are causing a severe decline in the valley’s socio-natural life along with the destruction of forests, wilderness, agricultural lands, and local people’s means of subsistence in Gürdere Village. Studying the said processes through the faculties of critical urban theories such as the circulation and accumulation of capital, we believe that the study could reveal possible networks of social, political, economic, and ecological issues behind mega-projects. In respect to the complex structure of the given example, namely Cevizlik Basalt Quarry, the study also presents a larger perspective within the scope of Marxist and situated urban political ecology by focusing on a peri-urban area in Rize, Türkiye. Thus, this study reflects on the production of nature in İşkencedere Valley by analyzing socio-natural metabolic relations and rejecting urban-rural and society-nature dichotomies.

Subject Keywords

Production of Nature, Urban Political Ecology, Mega-Project, Quarry, İşkencedere Valley

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/107807

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis