Reconstruction in historical context: Case study "Türktepe" neighborhood

Developing countries have faced outstanding rate of urbanization and increasing in poverty since the 1960s. Uncontrolled slums generation is the result. In Turkey especially for the last 50 years, there has been a massive migration from rural to urban areas in parallel with this rapid urbanization. In general, squatters without legal recognition or rights occupy these unplanned and underserved neighborhoods. These slums mostly suffer from insufficient municipal services, such as water supply, sanitation, waste collection or infrastructure and are exposed to disease, crime and natural disasters. Thus, many governments have developed strategies to find solutions to this phenomenon. The city of Gaziantep, in Turkey, is an example of a rapid urbanization growth within the recent decades. Being an industrial city, that increased the rate of migration and exacerbated its problems, which led local municipalities to adopt urban renewal projects with the meaning of urban transformation in several parts of the city. This study came to keep up with the efforts of Gaziantep Municipality in developing and renewal one of these neighborhoods, called Türktepe, which is listed on the agenda for next urban renewal project. The study follows a convenient methodology to analyze the physical problems of the neighborhood in specific, and the socioeconomic problems briefly, which allows giving recommendations about case study to ensure the success of the project.