Legitimization of Urban Regeneration in Squatter Housing Areas through Elements of Poverty and Crime in Turkey

While urban regeneration in Turkey emerges as an effective method of intervention in the transformation of urban space into areas of attraction for the global capital, intervention areas are defined as squatter housing areas where degradation process is visible, the population of which gradually loses its acceptability in social integration processes, and which are "regarded as harmful by the society." The urbanites, meeting an unexpected population and space, have always viewed squatter housing areas and their populations as a problem. Evolving from the 1940s up to the present, this outlook has formed a social perception against the squatters. Governmental policies are also formulated in accordance with this outlook and various intervention methods, from demolition to amnesty, to reform and to regeneration, have been defined for the problem of squatter housing areas. In this process, the difference with today's regeneration applications is their legitimization of intervention areas through elements of poverty and crime. As such, the degradation process is rendered visible on the basis of social anxieties and regeneration by law is made acceptable as essential. In this study, the evaluation of the stigmatization process of the squatters as the origins of poverty and crime will be rendered debatable within the perspective of urban regeneration applications. As the preliminary research area, Çin Çin area of Ankara's Altýndað District has been chosen. The fact that this area has been attracting attention for years due to its increasing poverty and crime rates, brought about urban regeneration applications. Yet, while some portion of the population who were registered criminals migrated to other destinations after regeneration, another portion has remained in this location and sustained the crime rates. For the purpose of questioning this process, the second work area has been designated as Sincan Saraycýk Neighborhood, a place where Altýndað's squatter population migrated to. This area changed its identity in time, first with migrants from the Southeast and then with those from Altýndað. This change, gaining momentum with the present population's abandoning of the area, has become visible in the social and physical space and Sincan's Mayor has announced his decision on applying urban regeneration due to rising crime rates. The methodology of the study consists of literature survey, media analysis enabling the evaluation of perspectives on the squatter housing area and interview and questionnaire practices carried out in the research areas.