provided by Research Papers in Economics
DEPRIVATION ANALYSIS IN DECLINING INNER CITY RESIDENTIAL AREAS: A CASE
STUDY FROM IZMIR-TURKEY
Esin Ince Kompil (Msc)
Research Asistant, Department of City and Regional Planning, izmir Institute of Technology, izmir, Turkey;
e-mail: [email protected]
Adile Arslan Avar (PhD)
Assist. Prof. Dr., Department of City and Regional Planning, izmir Institute of Technology, izmir, Turkey;
e-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to examine the inner city decline in Turkey, by drawing on a field
research, which was conducted in Izmir, Tuzcu District, in 2005 for ince Kompil’s Msc thesis. The paper
places the inner city decline within the context of uneven development. Although inner city decline
backgrounded by uneven and dual structure is very common for all capitalist cities in first world countries,
this phenomenon incarnated as segregated and neglected areas, which become both socially and spatially
declining parts of the city, is relatively new for Turkey. In order to explore this phenomenon in Turkey and
to compare it to those in other countries, we had to consider the level and nature of segregation and
deprivation indicators that have already been developed by the existing works elaborating on inner city
decline. One of the mostly used tools for examining the declining inner-city residential areas is “deprivation
index” formed by Townsend in 1990s. The general deprivation index comprises two fundamental sections:
social deprivation and material deprivation. Social deprivation includes the indicators such as employment,
family activity, integration, and participation to social institutions, recreation, and education. Material
deprivation consists of the indicators such as dietary, clothing, housing, home facilities, environment,
location, and working conditions. The analysis of the data coming from 2005 field survey in the Tuzcu
district of Izmir showed that some indicators such as poverty, unemployment, decline of physical
environment, disinvestments and economic decline arise as having similar features with first world cities,
and that segregation is visible when our research area, Tuzcu district, is compared to other parts of Izmir.
However, regarding segregation within the district itself, it is not so acceptable feature. Moreover, findings
of the survey indicated that segregation in Tuzcu District, as being different from the first world cities, is
fundamentally defined by class or income structure, rather than ethnic or regional origins.
KEYWORDS: uneven development, residential areas, urban decline, urban deprivation, segregation, izmir.
INTRODUCTION
Within the capitalist development process urban areas today are the places of increasing social inequality
and polarization of poor and wealthy both socially and spatially. This dual structure is valid for all capitalist
cities in the world as a result of capitalism-based development process, which leads underdevelopment of a
place and reverse development of others. Furthermore, this unevenness in urban areas are produced and
reproduced continuously, and this situation is inevitable in all capitalist cities. In other words, the
phenomenon of urban decline, which is defined as the geographical concentration of social, economic and
spatial problems in any part of a city, is the most concrete example of this unevenness in urban space and
common problem of all capitalized cities.
The inner city is defined generally as containing the central business district and a surrounding
residential area of older homes (Broadway and Jesty; 1998). Mills and Lubuele (1997: 727) note that inner
cities are typically defined as the areas near the geographical centers of metropolitan areas. Therefore the
concept of inner city decline comprises decline in both central business areas and residential (generally it
called transition areas) areas. Since the main focus of this paper is inner city residential decline, in the
following pages, the concept of inner city decline will be examined regarding residential areas. Residential
decline is widely examined by the works of Punch (2004), Broadway and Jesty (1988), Langlois and
Kitchen (2001), Bailey et al (2004), Kearns, Gibb and Mackay (2000), Wasylenki (2001), Carter (2003) and
most of them explore the physical, social, economic and environmental conditions of declining
neighborhoods. Carter (2003: 9) states that many older, frequently inner-ring suburbs have faced problems
similar to inner city residential areas such as population decline, an ageing infrastructure, deteriorating
schools and commercial corridors, and inadequate housing and so on.
Declining inner cities provide specific examples of unevenness of capitalist relations. Therefore, the
casual mechanism of unevenness in social and spatial structure has to be explored in uneven development
dynamics of capitalist system. The city or built environment itself is commodified by the capital since the
capital moves through the built environment itself in search of returns across an uneven and changing