Urban Growth:
Changing Content of Development and Policies Produced at Different Levels in Turkey’s Geography
Starting from the overarching discourse, we will argue that the concept of development has undergone transformation at many stages, from policy-making processes and planning practices to the public will that will implement them.
Firstly, we see that changing global political priorities are placing emphasis on certain sets of concepts in policy texts. This is accompanied by the construction of new common sensitivities that are encouraged. Despite vastly different local dynamics, we witness a widespread and entrenched general perception that these sets of concepts and political sensitivities can be applied in the same manner, which leads to decontextualizing issues and creating a new tension field at the local-global nexus. Thus, solution prescriptions become ambiguous, leaving problems unclear and ineffective in evaluating their efficacy.
Secondly, we address the transformation of policy-making processes. With the widening gap in wealth and income distribution, we observe that the masses are excluded from policy-making processes, and the weight of capital elites is increasing. As the institutions built according to the old paradigm become obsolete, the scope of development claims has become a matter of controversy. In the new situation, policy-making is carried out through elite-to-elite relationships with the discourse of cumbersome institutions giving way to more active structures.
The third point concerns planning practices that have undergone a transformation under the influence of the neo-liberal paradigm that became widespread in the 80s. The technical-mechanical planning practice, where experts built plans to reach realistic goals from predictable inputs, began to give way to strategic plans. Thus, the era of plans that were directed by unpredictable surprises of life over models that directed life came to the forefront. For instance, it can be seen that the expectations that goals aimed at alleviating regional inequalities could be implemented, despite the Marmara Region, which strengthens its weight due to its vast scale economy, are only an expression of hope added to the overarching discourse.
The fact that public will is paralyzed in many vital issues with changing conditions is a fourth point that emerges. This new situation, where the direct relationship between politics financing and capital transfers created by the public’s hand is very visible, creates new populist governments that are less responsive to societal problems but externalize/make ambiguous the reasons for unsolved problems (a global phenomenon).
As a result, in this new situation where the local-center duality is re-established in a way that strengthens the center’s power, development seems to be reduced to mere numerical growth. We see that strategic plans appear as abstract policy texts that include space and deepen current problems due to the asymmetric distribution of power among actors.
Roles of producers, users, investors, and public actors in the development of urban policies and implementation tools based on green economy.
It is expected that public actors take the lead in developing policies and implementation tools for urban areas based on the concept of green economy, and work together with producers, users, and investors to determine what is included and excluded in the proposed framework, what responsibilities will be assigned to which actors, and how oversight will be provided. Even at the urban level, the historicity of the concept implies that all four actor types mentioned will have to include national and global stakeholders. However, we will assume the primacy of the local level as a principle.
How dynamics will unfold in practice can result in the emergence of a supply or demand-oriented chain. Although this will not fundamentally change the roles, it will affect relationships and the balance to be established. If end-users demand a policy based on green economy from institutional politics, politicians who want to win votes will review their promises in line with these expectations, and the competitive landscape will be reshaped to include these demands. The actions of incoming administrations will affect investor decisions through tools such as taxes, fees, and incentives. Producers are also expected to adjust their production accordingly.
Conversely, when a suitable condition for the widespread use of innovations such as electric vehicles emerges, market forces can reverse the chain in this case. Thus, urban policies restructured by a completely different discourse that reaches the end-users through communication will emerge.
