This thesis examines the role of politics in transformation of urban spaces. In this regard, the main focus is Berlin because the city represents how politics of each era is effective in urban development processes: Once a divided city after the World War II where Berlin manifested both parties&rsquo / ideological sentience and related urban strategies, the city soon came under successive transformations in accordance with the expectations of the new regime upon its re-unification. In this framework, by studying the Alexanderplatz Project as an example, the thesis questions the urban space policies of the East Berlin as socialist and the West Berlin as capitalist during the division years / the political transformation of the East Berlin after the fall of Berlin Wall / and the current conditions of East Berlin after re-unification. Here the aim of this study is to understand the different systems of urban space under the pressure of socialist and capitalist ideologies. Through the spatial analyses of the former East and West Berlin and through the comparative analyses of East Berlin in its transformation years the study intends to decipher how such successive changes took place and became operative under different regimes. Alexanderplatz is regarded as a unique example with which urban transformation is in accordance with changes in the political system.

With the emergence of urban transformation concept in 1980s, the concept of eligibility has also started to be discussed as a new term in Turkey. However, the absence of a sustainable urban transformation law which defines the criteria of eligibility of stakeholders has undoubtedly brought about violations and disagreements between stakeholders. Especially the uncertified gecekondu possessors who are not determined as eligible stakeholders have been subjected to forced and arbitrary evictions. This study aims to clarify the problem of eligibility of uncertified gecekondu possessors in urban transformation and attempts to determine the criteria for the eligibility of this particular group. It argues that since the claims of uncertified gecekondu possessors like right to adequate housing, labor and possession have moral characters which do not depend upon legal acts, they can not be criteria of eligibility. The legal property ownership must be the criteria of eligibility in urban transformation practices in the law. On the other hand, this study urges that no matter living in a legal or illegal housing, the vulnerable families who lack of basic economic security and living in the project area must be determined as eligible stakeholders. In the first part of this master study, the problem of eligibility was discussed from theoretical perspective. In the second part, this problem was discussed in the case of Dikmen Valley 4th and 5th phases Urban Transformation Project. The knowledge obtained from the case can be useful for the local governments to develop sustainable policies on this particular problem.

The gecekondu settlements emerged as a grassroots solution to the housing problem of migrant population in the lack of effective state intervention. Although most of these settlements gained legal status and title deeds in the following decades, they were still considered to be problem to be solved in due process. Starting from the mid-1980s, as a result of the so-called rehabilitation plans, considerable part of the gecekondu areas underwent a rapid redevelopment process through the market mechanism. The gecekondu owners gave their land to individual small scale developers in return for some portion of flats built in the land plot. However in the 2000s this strategy has changed with the introduction of state-led urban transformation projects. Transformation processes have started to consider the large gecekondu areas rather than the individual land plots as the unit of redevelopment. This brought the market model to a halt as well. It is not any more possible for the gecekondu owners to negotiate with the developers. Instead they have to deal with municipalities. Likewise the share of the gecekondu owners from the emerging rent declined dramatically as well. Such a model meets considerable resistance from the gecekondu owners. They see this process highly unfair and many of them decline to sign the agreement documents with municipal authorities. However there are also segments of gecekondu owners who accept the offer of the public authorities. The main aim of this thesis is to analyse the urban transformation projects with regard to the attitudes of the gecekondu dwellers. The question intended to be answered by the thesis is as to why some of the owner accept the offers while the others decline. While doing this, thesis also raise some further issues beyond the distribution of emerging rents such as the destruction of local communities and their life styles.

The transformation of urban space is determined by the social and economic relations in every mode of production. Under the condition of capitalist accumulation, the transformation of squatter areas is a significant debate. Therefore, the transformation of squatter areas should be analyzed in respect to the rent and the rent distribution by considering structure and agency relationship. In order to understand the rent distribution, political interest groups and capitalist power holders should be scrutinized. In other words, this thesis has focused the transformation of squatter areas in the capitalist production relations. Urban space is the most significant field in which the neoliberal policies are embedded. In the squatter areas, various urban transformation processes have realized post 1980. Two basic legal regulations constitute the frame of these transformation models. These are Law Numbered 2981 which entails the improvement plans and the 73th article of Law Numbered 5393 which facilitates the urban renewal projects. The basic motivation of the thesis is to indicate the differences between the development rights given to squatter owners in the transformed areas in accordance with these laws. After the discussion of urban transformation in terms of rent and property concepts, different transformation areas implemented in Ankara-Mamak District are analyzed comparatively. Then, difference of the development rights of squatter owners in urban renewal projects is indicated by considering the transformation process in Ilker Neighborhood.

As part of an urban analysis of Tehran, the major question is how and to what extent an urban space (Valiasr Street and its surroundings) manifests urban developments in each epoch in its processes of production. Considering Valiasr Street as the urban backbone of the city, according to its extension and qualities of its surroundings, and by looking at the urban forms regarding this extension, this study will explore the nature of urban transformation under political circumstances and understand each period

This thesis investigates the transformation of cities under the influence of globalization and the socio-spatial impacts of the process. The thesis asserts that global processes, with their neo-liberal agenda, influence the creation of new urban environments and new conditions of living and working in cities by triggering new dynamics in the functioning of certain urban mechanisms such as labour and land markets, which are conceptualized in the study as &lsquo / urban interface mechanisms&rsquo / . The thesis also asserts that as well as the ongoing functioning of urban interface mechanisms, the resilience of urban inhabitants is also an important determinant of the socio-spatial outcomes of the experienced urban transformation. The influence of new dynamics in labour and land markets are discussed for understanding how the changes in the conditions of living and working for urban inhabitants are created, how the different types of vulnerabilities and opportunities for urban inhabitants are created within this process and what is the role of social resilience, measured by the adaptive capacity of the inhabitants, in the determination of the socio-spatial effects of the urban transformation process. In order to answer these questions a research study had been conducted in a growing business centre in Istanbul, the Levent &ndash / Maslak axis, and in the surrounding neighbourhoods, which have different physical, functional and socio-economic patterns. The experience of different inhabitant groups had been investigated and compared in order to understand the parts played by neo-liberal policies, functioning of interface mechanisms and social resilience in the experienced outcomes of urban transformation.

Economic globalization in the 1980s ad 1990s gave birth to a new type of city, called a 'global city', which is assumed to perform critical functions to facilitate the contemporary global economy and which share the same characteristics. Cities, however, have different histories, economies, polities and demographies and these different local conditions do no lend themselves to the construction of a general model a global city even though they have characteristics. First, I explore the historical path of urban development in Seoul since the 1960s. Seoul is very unique in that its economic growth was mainly planned and implemented by the authoritarian Korean national government while civil and political freedom of citizens to participate the decision making process were strongly suppressed. However, the forces of globalization from the 1980s significantly altered the economic and political context in which the Korean state had successful operated in the previous decades. The role of state in regulating and planning the market was significantly weakened as well as the national political system became democratized and decentralized from the 1980s. These changes caused by the forces of globalization have made significant impacts on the organization of urban development in Seoul. Secondly, thus, I examine the social and political impacts of the globalization on the lives of the inhabitants in Seoul and I found that Seoul’s becoming a global city is closely related to the growing gap in the condition of living between the poor and the rich in Seoul. It is mainly caused by the restructuring of the urban labor market toward producer service sector orientation away from manufacturing sector. The expansion of the producer service sector has produced new trends in Seoul’s urban labor market: professionalization of regularly employed people at the top and increasing informal and low-skilled laborers and/or illegal foreign workers at the bottom. Moreover, it is found that increasing social inequality has its spatial consequence: a growing residential segregation. In Seoul, the southeast sub-region has emerged as an exclusive residential area for high-income professionals with much better living conditions, including spacious houses, easier access to heath-care facilities, more green space and educational institutions. The most important cause of the spatial concentration of professionals in this region is the concentration of the producer service sector jobs there. Yet, high price for housing in this area reinforces the clustering of the rich in the area and shuns lower-income people from moving into the area. However, the role of the national government cannot be under-estimated because the government urban policies produced the new development of residential and commercial development in the area in the 1980s. However, it is argued an opportunity to mediate the degrading economic living conditions for citizens in a global city has been created by the same force of globalization, yet in a different social system: urban politics. With particular emphasis on political democratization and decentralization under the current global economic system, it became possible for citizens to be directly involved in the public-policy making process. In theory, this situation implies that citizens are now empowered to create public policies that would minimize the negative consequences of economic globalization on their daily lives. My case study on Cheonggye Stream Restoration Project shows the opportunities and challenges of new urban political context in Seoul. The analysis of the Cheonggye Restoration Project suggests that more room has been created in the course of policy planning and the policy-making process, caused mainly by global political change toward direct democracy. However, the project also suggests that these changes at an institutional level did not lead to changes at an operational level, failing to produce an outcome that really reflects the demands of the actors. / text

The dissertation explores the peculiarities of changes of functional mutation phenomenon. The subject of research covers mutations and transformations in the functional structure of downtown areas of Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipeda in the period of different social orders (1960 2009) and technological inventions. Urban functions are an important element in the urban structure reflecting problems of the structure and factors influencing them. The detailed research based on the case study of Vilnius city reveals the issue of complexity and multiplicity of functions. The main objective of the dissertation is to evaluate the peculiarities of mutations and transformations formed in the functional structure of the downtown parts of Lithuanian cities (Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda) and their determining factors. The dissertation also aims at disclosing the regularities of urban functional structure, mutations and transformations. The dissertation consists of an introduction, three chapters, conclusions, lists of bibliography and the author’s publications on the dissertation subject, as well as addenda. The introductory chapter introduces and discusses the research issue and relevance of the work, describes the research subject, formulates the purpose and tasks of the work, defines the research methodology, scientific novelty of the work and theses to be defended. By the end of the introduction, three author’s articles on the dissertation subject that have earlier been published in peer... [to full text] / Disertacijoje nagrinėjami funkcinių mutacijų reiškinio kaitos ypatumai. Pagrindinis tyrimo objektas – Vilniaus, Kauno ir Klaipėdos miestų centrinių dalių funkcinės struktūros mutacijos ir kaita skirtingų visuomeninių santvarkų bei technologinių atradimų laikotarpiu 1960–2009 m. Urbanistinės funkcijos yra svarbus urbanistinės struktūros elementas, atspindintis urbanistinės struktūros problemas ir jas veikiančius veiksnius. Detalus tyrimas Vilniaus miesto pavyzdžiu atskleidžia funkcijų kompleksiškumo ir daugiafunkciškumo problemą. Pagrindinis disertacijos tikslas – įvertinti susidariusių funkcinės struktūros mutacijų ir transformacijų centrinėse Lietuvos miestų (Vilniaus, Kauno ir Klaipėdos) dalyse ypatumus ir jas lemiančius veiksnius. Disertacijoje taip pat siekiama atskleisti miesto funkcijų struktūros, mutacijų ir transformacijų dėsningumus. Disertaciją sudaro įvadas, trys skyriai, išvados, naudotos literatūros ir autoriaus publikacijų disertacijos tema sąrašai bei priedai. Įvadiniame skyriuje pristatoma ir aptariama tiriamoji problema, darbo aktualumas, aprašomas tyrimų objektas, formuluojamas darbo tikslas ir uždaviniai, aprašoma tyrimų metodika, darbo mokslinis naujumas ir ginamieji teiginiai. Įvado pabaigoje pristatomos autorės paskelbtos publikacijos disertacijos tema recenzuojamuose leidiniuose, skaityti pranešimai konferencijose ir disertacijos struktūra. Pirmasis skyrius skirtas literatūros apžvalgai. Jame nagrinėjama urbanistinių mutacijų samprata. Šiame skyriuje... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

This thesis is a monographic study to examine the transformation of the old industrial district of Ankara, which is yet incomplete. Investigating the significant reasons for its incompleteness, the study will concentrate on the intrinsic dynamics of this process, and particularly on such important contributions of its political actors. The aims of the study are to figure out the roles of political actors in urban transformations, and to evaluate the position of architectural production within such processes. As a consequence of this evaluation, the possible approaches for the similar forthcoming urban transformations will be questioned, with special reference to the political framework and the position of architectural production within the same framework. Maltepe developed as an industrial district since the end of the 19th Century, and served with the same function during the Republican period, until the 1950s when there were necessities and requirements for transformation. The transformation of the district occurred as two distinct processes on industrial production and industrial service areas. The industrial production area remained partially transformed, as a result of resistance mechanisms generated by the unavoidable practical difficulties. The transformation of the industrial service area remained incomplete as a result of varying design decisions at different periods. In general, the incompleteness of the transformation of the old industrial district was reasoned by either the incapability of political actors, or by the confrontations between them. The architectural production in this transformation was defined by the political actors, whose positions were characterized by such circumstances, within which the transformation occurred. Since the circumstances are different in any case, any urban transformation has different intrinsic dynamics and peculiarities in itself. Therefore, rather than approaching the issue of transformation with general policies, the strategies must be developed for each specific case. These strategies would also include the political actors, and the architects who participate in the formation of those political actors.

Urban identity can be defined as the intuition of the user, concerning the unique appearance of a city, which unifies environmental, historical, sociocultural, functional, and spatial values in urban space. In that sense, whether negative or positive, the impacts of the urban developments and differentiations, on physical environment and the user, cause to differ the impression about the urban space and the identity features. Bodrum town started lose its spatial, architectural, socio-cultural, functional, local values and urban identity, which were remaining before 1970s, with the wrongly planned and managed developments. In that sense, the objective of the thesis is to analyze this transformation process through the framework of urban morphology, urban functions, and meanings in urban space, and besides three study areas that were chosen in neighborhood scale are going to be analyzed considering the urban transformation that take place after 1970s within the context of planning approaches. In conclusion, some suggestions will be given to strengthen and sustain the remaining urban identity features in present time.