Project-Based Urban Renewal and Transformation of Urban Landscape in Turkey

Nowadays, the effects of capital-based decisions and, therefore transformation has effects on the structure of the existing city, the physical, social, and economic future of the people living in that city, and consequently all the traditions of the city. In this process, the urban landscape rapidly changes and the public urban landscape areas are replaced by the private landscape areas in many cities. In the recent period, within the scope of space’s meaning changing for the capitalism and capital accumulation, the cities are rapidly renewed with a model that can be named “project-based urban renewal.” The objective of this research is to determine the problems of project-based urban renewal approach and to examine the effects on the urban landscape in Turkey. For this purpose, Kayseri city that comes to the forefront with its planned development history since the proclamation of the Republic in Turkey was selected as the study area. In the study, the project-based renewal projects built in Kayseri province and the changes in the urban landscape were comparatively examined at urban level and structure level in terms of uniform structuring, increase in the density, devastation in the green system, privatization of the public space, and gentrification.