Re-evaluation the concept of social housing in the globalization age: The housing practices in Turkey

Today, half of the world's population (3.4 billion) is living in cities. It is suggested that if the rapid rise in urban population continues, the total number of urban residents will become around five billion by the year 2030. The increase in population density brings the change and rapid transformation of cities into metropolises inside the global capitalist system. The rapid metropolization of the cities causes an increase on places that have been affected by globalization. Inside the financial networks that large companies shape in the metropolises, these areas are being transformed into centers of investment and logistics. Considered as financial centers, metropolises experience socio-cultural changes as the employment opportunities and the immigration to the cities increases. It can be seen that demographic growth and combination of different profiles cause heterogeneous social circles in the cities where the chaos and complexity always exist. As a result of the heterogeneous structure of metropolis and the cultural hybridization, the cities become a living organism where different political, social, cultural and economic layers intertwine. This stratification has both positive and negative effects to the city. The positive aspect can be observed as the evolution of city life according to the different individual demands and the acceleration of this evolution due to the cultural diversity. The negative aspect is not being able to support the demands and vital needs of the poor population and increasing their victimization which are ignored by the chaos supported by the policies. Accommodation is determined as the basic need of the urban crowd and this subject affects the urban poor the most. Because of the lack of low-priced housing with sufficient quality, it becomes inevitable for the government to apply a real estate solution itself. Originated as a solution to the sheltering needs of low income groups in the city (unemployed people, immigrants, refugees, the disabled, elderly people, students etc.), social housing can be defined as the sheltering service of government towards its poor people. In another definition, social housing is described as the houses provided by public institutions or non-profit organizations for the low-income people or the citizens that have specific needs. Although the term "social housing" has emerged after 1945 with the birth of the notion "social state", we can see that the same phenomenon had been defined in different ways with different actors, economic conditions and applications before this date. Today, some of these definitions are still in use. Communal housing, company town, council housing, public housing, rental housing, and affordable housing can all be counted as the different names the social housing notion has been called according to the different economic components throughout the history. During the Pre-Industrial Revolution era when the feudal structuring and capitalist economy was widely accepted, "a communal housing where everyone lives together in monotype houses for free" was being imagined, while the capitalist Industrial Revolution evolved this dream into the single-celled houses provided in exchange of labor by factory owners in the city campuses. After the Industrial Revolution when the immigration from rural areas to the cities increased, workers' housing estates have been constructed by the benefactors and factory owners, thus the minimum housing units designed for the workers started to emerge. These areas tended to be too small to accommodate an elementary family and they offered bed units for just one person. Sanitary and culinary areas (bathroom, toilet, kitchen, dining room, laundry, yard etc.) were designed out of the living areas which are called individual housing, providing the other vital and social needs of the individual in the collective spaces.The terms "communal housing" and "minimum housing" are associated with each other in this context. Again, social housing places (council housing) were constructed by the municipalities and rented to urban victims during the same period. These houses were created as a result of portioning the responsibilities of the central government to the local governments and they were usually in the form of linked houses and had hut type with a couple of floors. After World War II, public housing had become the housing model, comprehensively applied by many states. These housing estates were mass-constructed on the lands planned by the government. While they had a few storey plans initially, they were started to be constructed in multi-storey plans in the next stage. It is also worth mentioning the social housing models which were constructed for urban poor and the ones emerged in neoliberal period after 1970 by the local government, the state, and the housing unions and called as "affordable housing". Three breaking points could be noted on the emerge of the social housing models. These can be listed as Industrial Revolution, World War II and Post 1970 Neoliberal Era. Within the scope of this study, the evolution of social housing is examined in four periods experienced between these breaking points: 1. Pre-Industrial Revolution 2. The period between Industrial Revolution and World War II, 3. The period between World War II and the 1972, demolishing of Pruitt Igoe Social Housing, 4. The Neoliberal period from 1972 until today. It is mapped to see which practices were structured in the world by social housing, including United Kingdom where Industrial Revolution started, the early industrialized France, late industrialised Germany, United States with its Pruitt Igoe application, and the Soviet Union. The housing policies, models, actors and applications in these countries have been deciphered and the design parameters have been discussed. The next part of the study is focused on the experience of Turkey. The social housing development in Turkey is examined between these four periods. Social housing applications in Turkey are evaluated comparatively based on the design parameters dealt within the social housing practices throughout the world. The aim of the study is to put forth the evolution of the applications, models, actors, design parameters observed in the social housing designs in Turkey by learning the social housing experience in the world. In the first part of the thesis, the research method and questions to be adressed by study scope have been revealed by prefacing subject. In the second part, social housing history from which had been emerged within social utopias to today is examined in the world's architectural aplications and politic models in four period. In Each period interval, architectural social housing aplications are mapped. In the third part, firstly conceptual components which come to the forefront in social housing applications of the world are identified. Secondly, these components are discussed and evaulated on some architectural samples in terms of "administrative" and "architectural". In the fourth part, social housing idea is handled in specific to Turkey. In following four historical period, social housing politics, models, actors and applications are examined. In Each period interval, architectural applications are discussed over conceptual components identified on the world's architectural practices. In the last part of the thesis, social housing applications of the world and Turkey are discussed together comparatively over conceptual components and models. In this context, the aim is to bring a new perspective to social housing which are designed for civic victims (unemployed people, immigrants, refugees, the disabled, elderly people, students etc.) in the future and direct to architectural solutions and approaches about social housing newly.