Research Information System
İnal Çekiç S. Ç. T. (Executive), Kurtarır E., Bilen Ö., Ökten A. N.
TUBITAK Project, 2014 - 2016
Participation as a phenomenon is the main subject of this research, which gains importance with the implementation of “governance”, that is developed after Second World War and increasingly become an important element of urban policy and an alternative to the crisis of representation of liberal democracy.
The main purpose of the study is to reveal the process from spatial, structural and relational analysis with the examination of participation in projects and planning decisions that lead urban development. Some of the goals of the study includes the evaluation of “participatory planning” in the frame of participatory democracy, social capital, urban rights concepts, and also analysis of decision making processes in projects and plans and identification of participation mechanisms in central and local government bodies that influence project and planning decisions. In addition, to evaluate the current state of planning decisions leading urban development with critical approach and to develop an effective participatory planning model, are the other expected outcomes of this research.
In this research, notion of participation will be discussed as an urban right in the context of reorganization of lifestyles. With the guidance of Lefebvre’s definition (2002), planning decisions that reproduce the social relations, will be considered as a process which involves not only planning of physical space but also the production of all aspects of urban life. The metropolis of Istanbul where the research carried out, is one of the most dynamic cities of Turkey and also a city that urban transformation politics revealed itself the most. In order to understand the process of participation in the metropolitan area of Istanbul, Beyoğlu district is selected representative area as a “lab space” of the city in terms of social, political and economic aspects. All the urban projects carried out in Beyoğlu will be considered within the framework of participation problematic.
Due to the originality and diversity (cultural, spatial, historical etc.) of Beyoğlu, the district provides important opportunities and also contributes to the research team in assessing participation phenomenon with multi- components.
The project aimed to contribute national and international literature; furthermore with the field work, data production will be realized and a model will be generated with the help of parametric analysis that examine the relationship between the variables. Thus, as well as a contribution in scientific literature the project will provide practical benefits for local governments and civil society. In addition, at various stages of the research, group meetings and workshops will be organized with an interactive manner to experience and create a participation context that involves local government and civil society in the research process. On the other hand, the analysis and observation of urban opposition movement in terms of participation channels and process that sprawled from Taksim Square in Istanbul, to the entire city and country will constitute the original value of this research.
This research is targeting a two-tier population in Beyoğlu, as far as the survey is concerned. Field work is planned to be conducted on samples of approximately 1100 voters and 400 shopkeepers, which will be selected by employing a multi-staged area probability sampling. Those sample sizes will allow analyses at % 95 confidence level with +-0,03 confidence interval. The data set obtained after the field work will be analyzed with the Structural Equation Model - a powerful combination of multivariate statistical analysis techniques - to test the participation model that has been defined in a participatory model by a workshop. Further field work and qualitative analysis are planned to assess the capacities of participation and social capital in community based and non-governmental organizations.
The final expected product of this research is to reveal a “participation typology” that defines perception, potentials and processes of participation in Beyoğlu, within the Turkish political, democratic and legal conditions and also to develop hints for participatory planning from these experiences.