The transformational dynamics of a former slum neighborhood in the metropolitan city's periphery: The case of İzmir-Buca Kuruçeşme neighborhood

Rapid population growth and rural-urban migration have brought about many social, economic and cultural changes in urban areas. Depending on these changes, various spatial and social problems have arisen in urban areas. Slum phenomenon is the most important one among these problems particularly in underdeveloped and developing countries. In Turkey, phenomenon of squatter settlements which became evident with domestic migration, has become a major issue in the 1960s and 1970s and slums in the metropolis have become widespread. İzmir is one of these metropolises where slums have become widespread. Slums established in areas near the city center initially have spread to the periphery of the city with the effect of increasing domestic migration wave over time. Indeed, the Kuruçeşme Neighborhood of the Buca District is one of the areas in question. However, Kuruçeşme Neighborhood has undergone a very rapid transformation in the last decade. The slums in the neighborhood are being demolished rapidly and apartments are rising at every corner under the name of "Urban Transformation". None of Buca's neighborhoods have experienced such intense construction process. In this study, in the light of finding in Kuruçeşme Neighborhood, the dynamics of transformation based on urban rent in an old shantytown in the periphery of the metropolitan city were analyzed in many sociological dimensions.