The making of a 'city of culture' : restructuring Antalya

Download
index.pdf
2010
Varlı-Görk, Reyhan
Show full item record
279
views
831
downloads
This study tries to identify agencies’ strategies in the ‘urban restructuring’ of Antalya into a ‘city of culture’ by examining the underlying relation between urban cultural policies and global capitalism. Pursuing the relational thinking of the Marxist urban political economy paradigm, the theoretical frames for the concepts of ‘restructuring’ and ‘city of culture’ were investigated using multi-dimensional approaches of existing scholarly literature. Since the concept ‘city of culture’ involves growth oriented development strategies of cities competing with other cities for capital, the concept is examined in these sub-fields: (field of art and culture; subfield(s) of urban -planning, -governance, -politics, -design; field of economy; field of tourism). Thus, to outline a theory of practice for the ‘growth machine’ agents, the transformation of the ‘forms of capital’ that both the agents and Antalya ‘city’ possess is examined in four sub-fields in the general field of power in Antalya. Various qualitative research methods were used to understand what underlies the restructuring process. Most of the qualitative data resulted from direct interviews; 28 individuals from six groups (the representatives of -cultural, educational and academic institutions; -capitalist investors; -local government; -NGOs; -central government; Antalyalite Intelligentsia) and a group interview (with 6 academics at Akdeniz University) during the field research conducted between 2006 and 2008. This thesis identifies the Antalya Greater Municipality (AGM) as the leading agency in the pro-growth coalition in Antalya with support from ATSO (Antalya Chamber of Trade and Commerce) among various other local and global agents (TÜRSAK, ıGM-ıstanbul Greater Municipality, WTO, EU) with their wealth of economic, cultural, commercial, social, and symbolic capitals influencing urban restructuring in Antalya. Opposing them is a group critical of cultural, economic and urban policies compatible with the policies trying to ease the transformation of Antalya into a festival marketplace or fantasy city. Eventually, it is argued that the urban elites’ strategies to transform Antalya into a ‘city of culture’ have produced a ‘growth machine’ using the world city ideology to convince people of the benefits of this transformation. The essential finding of this study is that the ‘state’ is the most active player in the restructuring process through its interventions in various fields.
Sociology.
http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/3/12612027/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/19775
Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis

Suggestions

The mallification of urban life in Ankara: the case of Ankamall
Akçaoğlu, Aksu; Ayata, Sencer; Department of Sociology (2008)
This study investigates the emergence of a shopping mall based urban life in Ankara. As the city is under the siege with the mushrooming growth of shopping malls, the urban life gains a new attribute. The economical, social, and cultural institutions and activities of the city are collected under the roof of the mall, and distinctions out of the shopping mall are formed and reproduced around the consumption activities of the mall. Based on a qualitative research which was conducted in ANKAmall, this study i...
Health and illness experiences among the urban poor : the case of Altindağ
Özen, Yelda; Rittersberger Tılıç, Helga İda; Department of Sociology (2008)
In this study similarities and differences in health experiences among urban poor in relation to the forms of capital they possess: economic, social, cultural, and health capital and the different positions they hold in the urban field, are analyzed. The research was conducted in two poor gecekondu neighborhoods in Altındağ, Baraj and Gültepe, via face to face interviews with 40 individuals. A main finding has been that the different forms of capital, in volume as well as in composition, had an influence on...
Experiences of social exclusion of the youth living in Altındağ, Ankara
Aksungur, Umut; Kalaycıoğlu, Hediye Sibel; Department of Sociology (2006)
In this thesis, the aim is to understand social exclusion of urban youth living in Altındağ, one of the most disadvantaged districts of Ankara. In this study, social exclusion is accepted as a process of long term non-participation in the economic, civic, and social spheres which integrate the society in which an individual lives. Therefore, the definition of social exclusion centered on the notion of ‘lack of integration’ is accepted as a background of the study. In this respect, social exclusion is accept...
Globalization, transnationalization and imperialism : evaluation of sociology of agriculture and food in the case of Turkey
Büke, Atakan; Ecevit, Mehmet Cihan; Department of Sociology (2008)
This study aims to evaluate conceptual considerations of the sociology of agriculture and food from inside and outside of the literature in relation to transnationalization and its claim on the emergence of a transnational state. Although the history of the literature can be traced back to mid-1970s, its development corresponds to 1990s which is also the period that witnessed the hegemony of the concept of globalization in social sciences. This study argues that the claim on transnationalization reflects th...
The experiences of urban poverty among recent immigrants in Ankara : social exclusion or not?
Taşkan, Serpil; Rittersberger Tılıç, Helga İda; Department of Sociology (2007)
The aim of this study is to find some indications about social exclusion in some neighbourhoods in Ankara. Social exclusion has increasingly gained importance as a concept in contemporary social sciences. To attain this aim, firstly, a theoretical framework, through which theories of the concept of social exclusion, main dynamics and differences of this concept from the concept of poverty were discussed. Secondly, a field work was carried out in some squatter settlements in Ankara known as “poor”, to see wh...
Citation Formats
R. Varlı-Görk, “The making of a ‘city of culture’ : restructuring Antalya,” Ph.D. - Doctoral Program, Middle East Technical University, 2010.
METU IIS - Integrated Information Service open@metu.edu.tr