The challenge of changing identity in urban transformation process: Kagithane case

Nowadays, one of the universal and controversial issues is urban identity. Urban identity is subject to much argument due to globalization, particularly in the context of urban transformation which has taken place all around the world. Turkey is not an exception in this regard. Urban identity is a continuous but shifting notion. The concept of "urban identity" is a consequence of urbanization of cities. In urban transformation process, cities are transformed brutally. As experienced and noticed in a variety of previous urban transformation projects all over the world, applying urban transformation has been accompanied by successes and problems. Although some projects have been done in real situations, noticing all aspects of the society, architecture, economy, and their results indicate unacceptable destructive changes in residents' lives. Moreover, some of these converted settlements are still problematic with increased predicaments that produced by urban transformation itself. Some of these adverse difficulties are losing the sense of place and urban identity. Therefore, in this study identity and the aspects that affected it in urban transformation, considering a special place, were investigated. One of the critical areas in Istanbul which has experienced urban transformation and identity change is Kâğıthane. The Çeliktepe quarter of Kâğıthane is selected for a holistic approach to this study. The urban transformation which has been implemented in this neighborhood is not as a sample project. The changing process of the district has taken place during a long time with different industrial, economic, and population changes in the area. These changes have a direct effect on the district's physical structure. In various eras, the neighborhood has witnessed different changes. First of all, the squatter regions had been constructed in the district's empty agricultural spaces. After that, these quarter buildings have passed transition processes of squatter to apartkondus and finally apartkondus have converted to apartment buildings. These changes were not precipitates to causing panic between the settlements. Like resident' economic growth the speed of district's changes is very slow. It gives opportunities to residents for adapting with changes. In this dissertation, it has been tried to understand the effect of these physical changes in district socio-cultural and socio-economy structures. Also, this study aimed at investigating how these physical changes switch the sense of place and urban identity. To achieve these results, a mixed method of the qualitative and quantitative methods has been used to analyze the urban transformation in Çeliktepe informal settlement. We think residents are the critical factor for analyzing the neighborhood's changes and position. So, in addition to library research and observation, a questionnaire and an interview have been carried out for collecting the data. The survey had been done with eighty people. The questions tried to meet the answer the study's main issues about neighborhood's socio-cultural, socio-economy, neighborly relations and physical situation of the area. The results show that urban identity has directly affected by urban transformation. Any physical changes make differences in the social structure of the neighborhood. District changes have affected the sense of place directly which includes the shifts in resident's place attachment, satisfaction, belonging, affordability, and displacement sense in the area. When some functions are newly added to a zone, new people with different cultures and habits replace the previous local residents. Each of the new-comers takes their socio-cultural structure and requires with themselves. So this phenomenon affects the social identity. Sometimes there is a big gap between the neighborhood's locals and newcomers. Keywords: urban transformation, urban identity, social identity, physical identity, Place attachment, Kâğıthane.