URBAN TRANSFORMATION-BASED AND CONSTRUCTION-FOCUSED ECONOMY MODEL IN TURKEY AND ITS SOCIAL COST: A CRITICAL EVALUATION CONSIDERING FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL RIGHTS, ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS AND RIGHTS TO THE CITY

Abstract

Today, cities are reconstructed by almost being destroyed under the name of numerous "urban transformation" projects. For economic rent, built-up areas, houses and neighborhoods are destroyed, and forested areas, protected areas, agricultural areas, watersheds and archeological sites are zoned for construction. On the other hand, people are forced to leave their homes by the government's expropriations. The government claims this process facilitated development and economic growth. However, it is, in fact, all about increasing specific people's life standards while decreasing or sacrificing the rests' through using the country's resources unfairly. When the harm against the environment, nature, history, culture, and against all living spaces is considered, it can be foreseen that this model will not be "sustainable" in the long term. First, the presence of urban transformation-based and the construction-focused economy model in Turkey has been researched through factual and statistical ways. Next, the processes of the model and the ways of getting capital stock have been examined. Since "neo liberal urban policies", "construction industry" and "global city" terms form the main aspects of the existing model, the roles and the importance of these terms have been examined under a different title. Then, the main issue of the article, "social cost," has been discussed; injuries, victimizations, violations of human rights, the harm against nature, environment, history, cultural life and collective memory, and "social cost" have been analyzed. Finally, the model has been criticized to see whether it is appropriate for a "humanistic and sustainable life".