Urban renewal in Turkey: A socio-spatial analysis in Kocaeli context

Urban Renewal is one of the much-debated issues of urbanization policy in the 21st century. Even though this policy has been assumed to start in the middle of the 20th century, its history dates back to ancient times. Urban renewal policy emerged due to the aging of cities and also upon the demand of pressure groups. These policies particularly seen in metropolis both physically renew and have socio-economical results. Urban renewal has different goals in terms of its field of application. There are many succeeding projects on this issue all over the world. As a result of the renewal some criticism are brought by some parts of society. Urban renewal is a new concept that Turkey has encountered. It is particularly seen in fields of metropolitan municipalities. Having legal basis is one of the factors that accelerate these projects. Kocaeli is a city with a huge economy in Turkey. Industry is the sector of the city's economy and this has caused the city to let in immigrants since 1970s which increased the habitation. After the earthquake on the 17th August 1999 Kocaeli suffered substantial damage and this led a lot of opinions on renewal of the city. This study analyses the demographical, physical and social structure of Tavşantepe which is one the oldest settlements of İzmit using survey. Analysis of the questionnaires shows that the neighbourhood of Tavşantepe is eager in terms of urban renewal.