Abstract:

Considering the accelerating population movements from the rural to the urban since 1950s, meeting the housing needs of individuals who migrate from rural areas has been one of the most important issues, especially in metropolitan cities. The migrants struggle for space has resulted in formation of gecekondu areas, and they have gained a place in the city by this way. Despite all the policies that have been implemented in Turkey for the last 50 years, gecekondu has been a shelter for disadvantaged migrants. It is seen that the struggle for gaining a place in the city that has been maintained up to now in different ways has turned into a class struggle in time, and poor and deprived individual/household migrants have mostly been pushed out of social life. Social exclusion, which is defined as not being able to be included in the society, being isolated from social relationships and failure to completely integrate into the society, is discussed in this study with a perspective of “gecekondu residents”. Within this context, the aim of this study is to state the social exclusion experiences of residents of Şirindere Gecekondu District in Ankara, Turkey. The gecekondu movement started in the area in 1970s resulted in the social and spatial isolation of the area from surrounding residential areas and the entire city in 2000s. Nowadays, the area is subject to urban transformation studies that focus on the physical transformation of space. This study presents the socio-economic structure and problems of the gecekondu residents by discussing the development process of Şirindere Gecekondu District. The most important finding of the study was that the gecekondu residents who are living in this isolated area of the city also carried socio-economic varieties, and they also experience social exclusion among themselves.

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