Socio-Spatial Transformation by Gated Communities on the peri-urban areas

Some walls are meant to keep people in, some to keep people out” (Blakey & Snyder, 1997) After 1980s, especially in 2000s the establishment of new settlements in Istanbul, named as gated communities and the increasing numbers is the result of not only globalization but also taking into account housing production and marketing as one of the main development strategy. Another reason is that the developers and producers in the housing sector consider Istanbul as an open market. Due to the demand for luxury housing and prestigious life, which means also demand for both vertical and horizontal gated communities, the increasing number of such settlements is inevitable. Depending on this high demand, gated communities do not only appear as a housing production type but also as a new lifestyle. Some people prefer to fulfil their aim to have a prestigious life in the urban centre, while some prefer to live in the peri-urban zones away from urban centre in contact with nature and the lifestyles offered by gated communities. On this basis, in order to supply this demand, developers prefer more peri-urban areas, in other words rural areas. This type of housing production in rural areas has created socio-spatial transformations in the uniqueness of the rural areas. The research will focus on Göktürk where gated communities in Istanbul first appeared. The socio-spatial transformation of Göktürk will be analysed by first social transformation via population, education level and employment via data obtained from TURKSTAT. In addition, the spatial transformation will be estimated by aerial photos of 1987, 1996, 2005 and 2010 in order to understand the changes in transportation, streets, green areas, gated communities and housing.