The main objective of this study is to investigate reproduction strategies of upper-middle class group of people in Ankara and their differentiation propensities in the fragmentation process of urban space. Dispositions and everyday life practices of upper-middle group on Bourdieu&rsquo / s approach in the urban space of Ankara are analyzed on the basis of intensive interviews with upper-middle class women. In this sense, special emphasis is placed on this group&rsquo / s close family relations, investment strategies in education, housing and living space strategies.

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the effects of gated communities in the increasing fragmentation of urban space and in the increasing polarisation among different classes in the Turkish context, more specifically in the capital, Ankara. Since the case study is based on an upper-middle class suburban gated community, first, suburbanisation &ldquo / as a wave of urbanisation&rdquo / is analysed. Then, the debates about the middle class and the transformation that this social stratum has undergone are discussed. Later, the formation of gated communities around the world and in Turkey are analysed within the general framework of the transformation of the urban sphere. Finally, the theoretical arguments are scrutinised by incorporating the findings of the case study carried out in Angora Houses. In this study Angora Houses is concluded to be a gated community which is &ldquo / fortified&rdquo / for the preservation of an upper-middle class lifestyle rather than for security concerns and which reproduces socio-spatial inequalities among Ankaraites rather than standing as only the expression of them.

In this thesis, I analys suburb- and housing planning and interior decoration carried out primarily in Stockholm between the 1930s and the 1950s. Functionalism, the overall concept of the period, has perhaps been interpreted in terms of ideological concepts, interpreted as "democratic" and as a progressive dividing line between the past and the future. I examine how housing and suburban planning in Sweden in the mid-20th century was affected by how housing and town planning related to that period's clear class boundaries and well-defined gender roles. I analyse both rhetoric and physical planning. Whether the architect had explicit ambitions to achieve spatial differentiation of socio-economic categories, how suburban planners dealt with their historical inheritance and the principles about categorisation and spatial separation. I also analyse how ideas of class, gender and spatial differentiation of family members affected the organisation and design of rooms in the housing planning of the mid-20th century. The general conclusion of the thesis as a whole is that ideas about class, sex and familial hierarchy were reflected in functionalist housing and interior decoration. The planned suburbs in Stockholm involved explicit strategies for differentiating population categories in different suburbs. The planned suburbs, which were regarded as paradigmatic cases for the suburban planning of the period, involved explicit strategies for differentiating population categories in different suburbs, a strategy that was concretised in physical suburban planning. Terraced housing in one area, småstugor in another, blocks of flats in a third, detached houses in a fourth. Sociological arguments justified this type of suburban planning. The emotional affinity between neighbours was considered to be better if the neighbours belong to the same socio economic category. Planned homes, which were regarded as paradigmatic cases for the housing planning of this period, involved explicit strategies for differentiating family members into different rooms, distinguishing between private and public rooms within the sphere of the home, a strategy that was concretised in physical housing planning. I analyse how the magazine's editorial content contributed to producing a middle-class housing ideal. A central aspect of modern housing planning and the debate in around 1930 was the launch of the home as an essentially private sphere. The editorial team behind the magazine Hem i Sverige launched the home as a reaction against the idea of the home as essentially a private sphere, with a clear spatial hierarchy and division between different family members, between private and public spheres. I examined the participation of the Nordiska Kompaniet department store in the 1930 Stockholm exhibition. As an influential commercial actor, the store's management had a strategy of combining consumption with both benefit and enjoyment, dreams, pastimes and goal-oriented purchases. The starting point for Nordiska Kompaniet's interior decoration approach was the organisation and content of the upper middle-class home. The drawing rooms, the dining room, the serving area, the homes with clear dividing lines between private and public sphere. Family structures and familial hierarchy were emphasised on the basis of the upper middle-class family's tradition. / Forskarskolan för estetiska vetenskaper

When residential segregation is mentioned in news coverage and when it is talked about in everyday discourse in Sweden, it is very often associated with immigration and minority groups living in the poorer areas of the city. A common assumption is that “immigrants” actively withdraw from society and that they choose to live together rather than integrating with the majority population. This study, however, argues that discussions about segregation cannot be limited to the areas where minorities and poorer-income groups live, but must understand segregation as a process occurring in the whole system of urban neighbourhoods. In order to reach a more complete understanding of the ways in which segregation processes are at work in contemporary Swedish cities, knowledge is needed about the inhabitants with greater resources and power to choose their dwellings and residential areas. The neighbourhood choices of more privileged groups, and the socio-spatial reproduction of the areas of the upper-middle class, are investigated by applying a qualitative ethnographic framework. The thesis studies two neighbourhoods located in the post-industrial city of Malmö: Victoria Park, a US-inspired “lifestyle community” which is the first of its kind in Sweden, and Bellevue, older but still one of the most exclusive and high-status neighbourhoods in the city. In order to understand self-segregation among privileged groups, the study especially scrutinises the concepts of class and security as well as the impacts of neoliberalisation on the Swedish housing market. The main argument of the study is that the self-segregation by members of the upper-middle class demonstrates a rift which runs through the urban fabric of Malmö, splintering the city up into perceived separate worlds. The existence of physical, symbolic and social boundaries in Victoria Park and Bellevue reproduces these neighbourhoods as exclusive, private and tranquil spaces of the upper-middle class. By locating themselves in the calm and safe part of the city, the upper-middle class can buy security as a commodity, rather than relying on the welfare state to provide it for them.