Urban transformation in the context of the right to the city and citizens’ rights: The case of Trabzon Beşikdüzü

Abstract

While cities make decisions regarding urban space, citizens who experience effects of decisions are excluded from decision-making processes. Urban plans are generally designed regardless of residents. The pursuit of searching for answer to the question: “Who are managing cities?” by urban politics, necessitates both neo-liberal urbanism and answer to the question “to whom cities belong.” Since the 2000s, the concept of “right to the city” has been frequently brought to the agenda in the search for an answer. The problem of the study is “What are the results of urban transformation practices in the context of the right to the city and the rights of the citizens? In this context, the aim of the study is to discuss the results of urban transformation practices to produce urban space in relation to the violations of the right to the city and the right of the citizens, through the example of Beşikdüzü. The study was prepared with knowledge that urban transformation and spatial changes in Beşikdüzü led to the desire of citizens to own the in 2014-2019. Study reveals that the participation of city residents in the decisions taken regarding the production of urban space hasn’t been enabled, there have been implementations that violate the rights of city residents, and the decisions have resulted in the destruction of the spaces which represent the identity of city, have led to the demand for conservation of city-by-city residents