Urban space and capital: Social and spatial change in Sultanbeyli, Istanbul

The thesis aims to understand how movement of the capital in Istanbul Sultanbeyli district changed between 2010 and 2020 within the framework of neoliberal policies, how it result in changes in the urban space and how these changes affected social relations. The TEM Highway, which had a great impact on the development of Sultanbeyli, not only caused a rapid population growth, new constructions, but also divided the neighborhoods in the district into two as the north and south of the highway. The reasons for this situation in the district, which shows a structuring and population increase towards the northern neighborhoods, were tried to be explained in relation to the capital accumulation processes. In this context, in this study using the qualitative research method, the social and spatial dynamics of capital investments in built environment production in Battalgazi Mahallesi and Adil Mahallesi in the north of the district and Mehmet Akif Mahallesi in the south are evaluated with their sociological dimensions as through in-depth interviews conducted with the residents of the neighborhood. As a result, the study shows that spatial and social transformations are experienced because of capital investments in the northern districts of Sultanbeyli, which caused by the regulatory functions of the public, and the concentration of Syrian migrants in the southern district. Keywords: Urban space, Capital accumulation process, Capital investments, Built environment production, Neoliberal urbanism, Sultanbeyli