Gentrification in Istanbul

With changes in the political and economic world order as well as in the development of foreign commercial relations of Turkey, the country's major cities entered a process of change during the 1980s, most notably in the location and use of some of the residential areas of Istanbul. While these areas of middle and high-income groups moved to the periphery of the city, the residences in the older and more central settlements have been frequently changing hands. Some buildings in the central areas of the city have been restored and are now used by people of upper social classes, income groups, cultures and lifestyles. This process is known as gentrification. In this study, the gentrification process and its effects on a number of different neighborhoods in Istanbul were investigated through a desk top study and the major developments in this process were highlighted in an attempt to understand how gentrification developed in a city like Istanbul, the capital of many empires in different eras of history, and home to many nationalities and cultures. This study acknowledges that political factors as well as the economic factors affect the location of the areas which are currently experiencing gentrification. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.