Reproduction of space in the context of neoliberal urbanism: The case study of İzmir new city centre

The economic and political changes in the world after 1980 caused the neoliberalism, which is based on free market, privatization, deregulation and free capital movements, to become the dominant paradigm in the world. There is a strong link between the space where capital reproduces itself and neoliberalism. Cities transformed into centres where neoliberalism reproduced itself. With the concentration of neoliberalism on the urban area, the concept of neoliberal urbanization that re-scales functions, activities and relationships in the process of transforming urban land into a commodity that provides direct rent has emerged. The neoliberalism process of Turkey, which dates back to the 1980s when neoliberalism became a dominant paradigm in the world, began to rapidly transform urban space in the 2000s. With the transformation of capital out of İstanbul, the main application area of neoliberal urbanization in Turkey, the other metropolitan cities of Turkey have been involved in the process of neoliberalization. In this context, İzmir the third largest metropolitan city of Turkey, is witness to the process of neoliberal urbanization. İzmir New City Centre (YKM) where neoliberal urbanization policies find their place of application, is located in the focus of neoliberal urbanization process of İzmir. The neoliberalization process of NCC is carried out through large-scale urban projects which are one of the important implementation tools of neoliberal urbanization policies and intervene in the economic, social and cultural areas as well as urban space. In this context, the aim of this study is decipher neoliberal urbanization-oriented process and variables of neoliberal urbanization process in NCC and to reveal the neoliberal spatial transformation in the region on the basis of reproduction of the space