Küresel ile kanal arasında: Şahintepelilerin barınma ve kent hakkı

The "creative destruction" to which Istanbul has been subjected in the grip of neoliberal urbanization policies has been on the agenda for almost 40 years. At present, contrary to what the authors of the edited volume "Istanbul: Between the Global and the Local" (1999), which inspired the title of this study, had observed and discussed at the turn of the century, far from falling short of the global city expectations, Istanbul's urban trans-formation has surpassed the millennial imagination. Indeed, after the 3rd Bridge and 3rd Airport projects opened in the heart of the northern forests, President Tayyip Erdoğan's "crazy project", as he calls it, the Istanbul Canal Project (ICP), evidences the unlimited scope of this imagination. In this scope, former peripheries of the city have been the targets of this transformation frenzy and opened for excessive commodification and marketization at an unprecedented momentum. For the neighborhood of Şahintepe, situated just west of the last announced route for the ICP, the transformation plan projected in the area holds the danger of displacement, in-debtedness, and dispossession. Aware of the changes brought about by neoliberal urbani-zation policies, the inhabitants of this quasi-irregular neighborhood, almost all of whom are owner-occupiers, have been struggling for their right to housing and to the city in the face of constantly changing zoning plans and contradictory official statements since 2o2o. This thesis pays specific attention to the residents' claims to property based on their affective and collective labor accumulated in the neighborhood and the effects of the uncertainties experienced in the process. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and perus-ing relevant plans and court decisions, this thesis examines the changing housing and ur-banization policies alongside the proposed transformation regime and the ongoing con-testation against it in Şahintepe.