The role of spatial planning in transformation of social housing experience: A review on Ankara

Social housing production is an approach aimed at meeting the housing needs of predominantly low-income and disadvantaged groups of society. It also aims to enhance the quality of life of individuals and households, strengthen social integration, and support urban equal opportunities. Due to its holistic connection with all elements and services of urban life, the experience of social housing is directly related to spatial planning. Therefore, spatial planning plays a significant role in ensuring the effectiveness and sustainability of social housing. Around the world, the agenda increasingly includes the combination of the "social mix" policy, developed with the objective of ensuring social integration and preventing discrimination, with social housing practices. While there are studies that consider both practices together or examine the directibility of these practices through spatial decisions, very few researches address the relationship between social housing, social mix, and spatial planning. Moreover, no such study has been identified in Turkey regarding this matter. This study primarily aimed to uncover the spatial decisions and changes related to social housing practices through a literature review. As part of empirical research, a survey was conducted with public professionals responsible for constituting spatial decisions in social housing applications, as well as with residents within the designated area in Ankara. The findings emphasize the importance of fundamental spatial decisions, especially in central areas related to social housing zones, such as appropriate site selection and ensuring an equitable distribution of urban facilities. Furthermore, it was concluded that spatial decisions allowing for large-scale usage could be effective in achieving social inclusion and social integration in pursuit of the social mix objective. However, an important finding in this regard is that challenges may arise in implementing a social housing production policy focused on the "social mix" as income and welfare levels increase. Therefore, "social mix-oriented social housing" applications are deemed more likely to be successful when located in close proximity to each other and among communities with similar socio-cultural structures, focusing on low and middle-income groups. In the final stage of the study, a conceptual model proposal was developed aiming to enhance the contribution of spatial planning to "social mix-oriented social housing development" based on the results from the literature review and field study. Since there is no approach in the literature that combines social housing, social mix, and spatial planning in Turkey, it is believed that the proposed model will contribute to the literature, be flexible, applicable in different contexts, and provide guidance. As a result, it is observed that various challenges exist at different levels, such as general spatial planning policies, financing, management, and governance in Turkey, which may hinder the achievement of the identified goal. Nevertheless, some fundamental recommendations have been proposed to address these challenges.