Axes of inequality in urban space: The case of Erzincan

Urban settlements, with the increasing population, encompass not only quantitative majority but also qualitative density. As spaces where such concentrations are observed, the formation process of cities has been influenced by the transformations experienced by the world and has brought along many changes. The transition from an industrial society to an information society, from Fordism to flexible accumulation, from the nation-state model to globalization, and from modernism to postmodernism has been effective in the dynamic structure of urban space, particularly reshaping it around the axis of capital. In urban space, which is the locus of capital, differences that pose problems have created an environment of inequality. Today, with the creation of this environment of inequality, urban space has to a large extent become the space of social inequalities, and the social essence that constitutes the content of these inequalities has at the same time reshaped the space by making it resemble itself. The subjects affected by social inequalities observed in urban space also constitute the axes of urban inequalities. The axes along which the social inequalities contained in urban space differentiate can be listed within the scope of social class, gender, age cohorts, physical disability, and ethnic origin. Being poor, being a woman, being young, being elderly, being disabled, and being a refugee in the city also constitute the subjects of the differentiated axes of inequality. Within the scope of this study, the appearance of urban inequalities in the case of Erzincan, the differentiated structure at the level of selected neighborhoods, and the elements of inter-spatial differentiation are revealed as a result of interviews conducted. Keywords: The Transformation of Urban Space, Social Inequality, Urban Inequality and Its Axes