Urban transformation through property-led regeneration: A case of building renewals in Istanbul

Urban transformation is a prominent topic within Istanbul’s urban planning agenda. Transformation process of the city falls under the scope of academicians and the related authorities; and is a focus of debate from different perspectives in daily life. In this atmosphere, centralised policies promote construction facilities as the leading economic sector, and the legislation sets the legal framework facilitating transformation processes. This transformation in Istanbul occurs in two forms; as area-based regeneration projects and single building renewal processes. Area-based regeneration projects have long been examined due to their widespread effects, however single building renewal also leads to transformation over the long term. The motivation behind this paper is to examine the single building renewal process by means of a case study – Bakirkoy, which is one of the sub-centres of Istanbul. In this context, the paper aims to construct an analytical evaluation of the regeneration process in Bakirkoy and tries to evaluate the process linking it with critiques of property-led regeneration debates worldwide. This paper covers a periodical evaluation of this process by attempting to understand the urban transformation pattern by means of a descriptive spatial analysis, and a discussion of recent policies in Bakirkoy case.