Gecekondu

A gecekondu region in Ankara before demolishing.

Gecekondu, meaning 'put up overnight' (plural gecekondular), is a Turkish word meaning a house put up quickly without proper permissions,[1] a squatter's house, and by extension, a shanty or shack. Gecekondu bölgesi is a neighborhood made of those gecekondular. Gecekondu neighborhoods offer an affordable alternative for shelter for many low-income households who can not afford to purchase or rent formal housing.[2]

Before the gecekondu phenomenon, teneke mahalles (tin-can neighbourhoods) constituted the main pattern of informal housing starting from the late 19th century. The term gecekondu gained popularity with the construction of informal settlements by migrants from rural Turkey in the 1950s when the mechanisation of agriculture created a significant surplus population in villages.[3][4][5] The immigrants, including Roma, who fled Bulgarian and south Romanian cities after the 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War, were the earliest founders of teneke mahalles in different parts of Istanbul such as Kumkapı and Nişantaşı.[6] However, the inexpensive housing option provided by teneke mahalles soon became attractive for local poor such as Kurdish and Armenian immigrants.[7]

  1. ^ Karpat, Kemal H. (2004). "The Genesis of 'The Gecekondu: Rural Migration and Urbanization' (1976)". European Journal of Turkish Studies. 1 (2004). doi:10.4000/ejts.45 – via OpenEdition Journals.
  2. ^ Caves, R. W. (2004). Encyclopedia of the City. Routledge. p. 285.
  3. ^ Yılgür, Egemen (May 2022). "Formation of Informal Settlements and the Development of the Idiom Teneke Mahalle in the Late-Ottoman Istanbul". Journal of Urban History. 48 (3): 608–637. doi:10.1177/0096144220948808. S2CID 225429819.
  4. ^ Ekmel Zadil. 1949. İstanbul'da Mesken Meseleleri ve Gecekondular| Sosyal Siyaset Konferansları Dergisi |issue=2 | pages=65-87
  5. ^ Münir Güney. 1949. Üsküdar Kazasında Gecekondu Problemi ve Başlıca Meseleleri| 1963-1964 Ders Yılı Sosyoloji Konferansları. İstanbul: İstanbul Üniversitesi Neşriyatı,p. 29
  6. ^ Yılgür, Egemen (May 2022). "Formation of Informal Settlements and the Development of the Idiom Teneke Mahalle in the Late-Ottoman Istanbul". Journal of Urban History. 48 (3): 608–637. doi:10.1177/0096144220948808. S2CID 225429819.
  7. ^ Yilgür, Egemen (December 2018). "Teneke mahalles in the late Ottoman capital: A socio-spatial ground for the co-inhabitation of Roma immigrants and the local poor". Romani Studies. 28 (2): 157–194. doi:10.3828/rs.2018.7. S2CID 150105545. Project MUSE 712022.