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1. Strengthened Civil Society and Effective Cooperation in Democratic Urban Governance

Author:
Ulaş Bayraktar
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
This report has been produced in the framework of the Empowering Civil Society for a More Democratic Local Governance Project funded by the scope of Republic of Turkey and European Union supported Partnerships and Networks Grant Program. TESEV is the lead, Şişli Municipality and Association of Union of Citizen Assemblies are the co-applicants, and the Checks and Balances Network is the associate of the project. The transition from the classical management approach to the governance approach, in which private sector and non-governmental organisations take on roles in determining public policies, has been the dominant discourse of politics for more than a quarter century. Instead of a hierarchical and monolithic bureaucratic process, this approach envisions a management triangle that engages other stakeholders. However, these governance principles have not been fully put into practice in Turkey and those that have been implemented have not yielded the expected results. The present study aims to test these statements at the level of local governments and politics. Its purpose is also to open up a discussion based on the findings of interviews and roundtables conducted in ten cities in Turkey and of a comprehensive survey administered to a nationally representative sample of civil society organisations.
Topic:
Civil Society, Non-Governmental Organization, Governance, Democracy, and Urban
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East

2. İzmir95: Data-Driven Policy Tool Project Report

Author:
Baran Karsak
Publication Date:
09-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
The report contains certain Izmir-specific (Izmir95) details and preliminary findings on the project process of the Data-driven Policy Tool interactive platforms that have been designed for Istanbul, Izmir and Gaziantep so far and that serve the Data-driven Decision-Making Processes study which is a main area of focus of the Urban95 project.
Topic:
Governance, Urbanization, Children, Urban, Sustainability, and Digital Policy
Political Geography:
Turkey, Middle East, and Mediterranean

3. Urban Drivers of Political Violence

Author:
Antonio Sampaio
Publication Date:
05-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Institute for Strategic Studies
Abstract:
The demographic trend of urbanisation, while not a cause of conflict, exacerbates local tensions and weak governance. It also creates an urgent need to understand the policy challenges that exist in cities such as Mogadishu, Nairobi, Kabul and Karachi. The rate of growth of the urban population in the four countries covered by this study was above the global average for the 2015–20 period – and more than double the average in the cases of Kenya and Somalia. With the exception of Pakistan, these countries also registered higher urban population growth in 2018 than the average for fragile and conflict-affected countries, which was 3.2%. Typically built without formal land rights, lacking basic public services, and featuring low-quality housing in overcrowded conditions, slums are perhaps the most visible characteristic of cities undergoing rapid and unmanaged urbanisation. But they are not the only one. Cities located in or near areas where armed conflict is taking place also tend to be split by several dividing lines – between slums and the rest of the city, between ethnic groups, between licit and illicit (often criminal) economies, and between violent and safe areas. Whereas many of these divisions may be part of broader national problems, their geographical concentration in the limited confines of a city creates distinctly urban drivers of violence, and therefore requires tailored policies in response. These divisions, exacerbated by the rapid urbanisation process, have contributed to a decline in state authority – governmental capacity to enforce rules, monopoly over the use of force, taxation and other state prerogatives – at the municipal level. In cities, therefore, security and governance go hand in hand. The existence of organised armed groups able to replace key state functions makes the challenges in cities affected by armed conflict particularly urgent. This report sheds light on the ways in which cities contribute to the weakening of state authority, and aims to provide a basis for the formulation of better, more tailored policies.
Topic:
Political Violence, Demographics, Urban, Housing, and Public Service
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kenya, Africa, Middle East, Somalia, Nairobi, Karachi, Kabul, and Mogadishu

4. The Climate Crisis and the City: The Significance of Cities as the Perpetrator and the Victim of, and as “a” Solution to the Climate Crisis

Author:
Efe Baysal
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
Let us face it: we are in the midst of a catastrophe, a state of calamity unprecedented in human history. We are living in those scenarios that once depicted a terrible future due to “global warming”. Extreme weather events, not-so-natural disasters have become the new norm. Given the fact that more than half of the world’s population now live in urban areas, it is fair to say that these new climate norms pose an especially dire threat to cities.
Topic:
Climate Change, Governance, Economy, Crisis Management, and Urban
Political Geography:
Turkey, Middle East, and Global Focus

5. Channeling Urban (Land) Rent Back into the Public Sector through Taxation

Author:
Bircan Polat
Publication Date:
11-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
Following the March 31, 2019 local elections, the indebtedness of local governments has once again emerged as a subject of public debate in Turkey. Local government expenditures took center stage in these debates, yet much less attention has been paid to potential sources of revenue for local governments. Generation of internal sources of municipal revenue is no less important than the issue of expenditures as it pertains to the relative financial independence of municipalities from the central government. Among potential sources of municipal revenue, a significant one is taxation on urban (land) rent which occurs as a result of a few distinct processes: transformation of agricultural land into urban land due to population increase, migration, industrialization; zoning change that renders the property more valuable due to a number of potential factors such as greater proximity to parks, attractions, or highway systems.
Topic:
Governance, Economy, Tax Systems, Public Sector, and Urban
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East

6. Muddling Through Environmental Politics: The City, the Climate Crisis, and Democracy

Author:
Sezai Ozan Zeybek
Publication Date:
09-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
I aim to open to discussion one of the critical barriers to potentially transformative environmental policies. In response to challenging problems there are moves being carried out to save the day, to make it seem like the issue is already solved. These moves end up postponing the real solutions. This is a trap that not only municipalities, public institutions and companies, but even civil society falls into.
Topic:
Civil Society, Climate Change, Environment, Governance, Democracy, and Urban
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East

7. On The Spatial and Legal Problems That Will Arise After Zoning Amnesty

Author:
Akif Burak Atlar
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
The resurfacing of ‘populist’ legal arrangements such as raises for civil servants and pensioners, minimum wage policies, paid military service and debt restructuring that carry along vote potential are a strange tradition of our country’s politics. Zoning Peace is a legal arrangement that was part of the omnibus bill passed in the run up to the 24 June elections. As the 2018 version of zoning amnesties which have been recurring throughout Turkey’s urban history and creating spatial and legal chaos by redefining zoning rights, it has taken its place in the urban planning dictionary. What will then be the practical outcome of this new edition zoning amnesty?
Topic:
Governance, Legislation, and Urban
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East

8. Fracture In Food And Agriculture As Urban And Rural Areas Integrate: Searching For New Horizons Where The Old Stalls

Author:
Bediz Yılmaz
Publication Date:
11-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
We are at a time when old definitions are being shaken up. Here I will track these splits and try to see what traces are shaping in their place. Let’s start with the city and the rural area. There is a credo of a definition in urban sociology. Despite changes in the social reality and notwithstanding those sociological approaches with a critical perspective, this definition does not change and is repeated through generations. The definition says: “City is the place where nonagricultural economic activities take place.” It is difficult to assert the validity of this definition in any particular time in history, and one does not know where to begin to explain that it does not stand today either. If you live in a medium-sized city like Mersin it is especially difficult to tell apart the city and rural areas, which one violates the other, what exactly is a rural area and which way it falls.
Topic:
Agriculture, Food, Food Security, Economy, Urban, and Rural
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East

9. An Assessment of Institutional and Legal Factors in Relation to Failure of Urban Regeneration

Author:
Tuna Kuyucu
Publication Date:
11-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
Large scale urban renewal projects, or ‘urban regeneration’ projects as commonly known in Turkey, are one of the most important political tools for the transition of cities from industry into service-heavy economic structures. Since 1970s regeneration projects have triggered substantial changes in urban economic geographies and caused extensive demographic shifts in the idle industrial, coastal and low socioeconomic residential areas of cities in late-capitalist countries. Yet, in Turkey they have started being implemented much later, with the first comprehensive regeneration policy devised in 2005 when the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power. Until 2000’s there existed significant financial and legal barriers to urban renewal. Struggling with budget deficits and high interest rates throughout the 90s, the state was not financially capable of urban renewal, which requires significant resources. On the other hand, Turkey’s local governance policies and financing did not allow municipalities to implement such projects by themselves. Finally, private sector actors (real estate investment trusts, major contractors, finance companies) lacked either any interest or the resources for urban renewal projects in the pre-2002 period characterised by high interest rates and inflation. When all these factors combined, despite serious need for regeneration and renewal in Turkey’s cities, unfortunately regeneration projects almost never came to life.
Topic:
History, Governance, Legislation, and Urban
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East

10. Developing Child-Sensitive Strategies in Local Government

Author:
Bürge Elvan Erginli
Publication Date:
07-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
This policy brief is published in the framework of “Inclusive Local Governance for Sustainable City” project under the umbrella project “Supporting Sustainable Cities” of TESEV funded by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty. Actors of various sizes all participate in local programmes, plans and actions on the path towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals. International and regional cooperation are necessary for attaining these goals, for which central government may prove more crucial in its effects, while the inclusion of local actors is imperative for following both a more efficient path and achieving democratic participation. It is thus timely to highlight the importance of local participation in identifying and implementing the 11th Sustainable Development Goal, Sustainable City and Human Settlements. This goal, in which the issues of the right to the city under inclusion(1) the creation of accessible and safe urban spaces for all, and the active and direct participation of civil society come to the forefront, necessitates the active participation of metropolitan municipalities of local governments, as well as district municipalities which are in most contact on many issues with the city’s residents.
Topic:
Education, Governance, Children, Inequality, and Urban
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East