Detransformation and Waiting: Institutional Bottlenecks and Precarious Spaces of State-led Urban Renewal

Abstract

State-led urban renewal has been a “modus operandi” for transforming city parts to serve various objectives, including the reproduction of the built environment, maximizing returns to real estate, or changing the socioeconomic profiles of neighborhoods. However, large-scale urban renewal agendas do not necessarily unfold as projected. This paper introduces the term ‘detransformation’ to define the socio-political nature of this multifaceted and complex process of urban change that diverges from the intended outcome and intensifies the politics of waiting. By conducting a comparative analysis of three extreme cases of urban renewal operations from three major metropolitan cities in Turkey (Fikirtepe-Kadikoy in Istanbul, Karabaglar in Izmir, and Akdere-Mamak in Ankara), we explore the inherent institutional, political, and administrative mechanisms that impede the intended redevelopment outcomes. We identify the socioeconomic and legal dynamics that lead to the institutional bottlenecks in redevelopment planning and conclude that the reckless urban renewal implementation generates exceptions to the order of formal urbanization that is mainly shaped around the politics of waiting.