The urban political ecology of the urbanisation of Eskı̇şehı̇r: Urban environmental injustice in the Gündoğdu Neighbourhood of Eskı̇şehı̇r

This thesis argues that the Porsuk-oriented urbanisation process in Eskişehir, which started in the 2000s, is an important determinant in the urbanisation history of Eskişehir. The gentrification around the Porsuk-oriented urbanisation process has led to the uneven development of Eskişehir on an urban scale. In this process of uneven development, the Gündoğdu neighbourhood has become a depressed area. This thesis conceptualises the urban environmental problems that have emerged in Gündoğdu Neighbourhood and are experienced by the residents of the neighbourhood as urban environmental injustices. In order to understand and discuss urban environmental injustices in Gündoğdu, the study seeks to answer the following questions How are the inequalities in the distribution of environmental opportunities and burdens created by environmental improvements focused on the Porsuk River and urban development experienced by which groups in the Gündoğdu neighbourhood, and how do these experiences reveal urban environmental injustices for different social groups? In order to answer this question, the study used qualitative research methods and semi-structured in-depth interviews. The findings were interpreted and understood from a critical perspective. The research examines urban environmental injustices and their relation to social power relations and inequalities in detail through the example of the Gündoğdu neighbourhood in Eskişehir. The problems in Gündoğdu neighbourhood show how capitalist urbanisation processes and urban transformation projects deepen and reproduce social inequalities. The results of the research show that urban restructuring processes in Eskişehir focus on the accumulation of capital, leaving some neighbourhoods exposed to environmental and social injustices.