7 research outputs found
The shopping mall as an emergent public space in Turkey
The shopping mall as a part of the recent transformations in Turkish urban lifestyle is the focus of this research. Characteristics of the Turkish way of using shopping malls, and their social and spatial consequences, are investigated and analyzed through a case study in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. The field survey was carried out in Bilkent Shopping Center, a newly built shopping mall in a suburban area which was also established recently as a high-income housing settlement. This shopping mall is an appropriate example of spatial transformations under the influence of global forces, which may also give clues about changes in urban lifestyle. A field survey was carried out through user surveys, and various observations are used to enrich the analysis. The results indicate that the shopping mall as a postmodern site matched the changing shopping and consumption requirements of Turkish urban citizens. The development of the shopping mall turns out to be timely for the Turkish urban citizen searching for modernity through new identity components in consumption patterns. Some benefit from this development more than others, for example, working women, indicating the process of feminization of the flaneur. However, these sites simultaneously produce a new arena of negotiation and conflict as well, creating new forms of exclusion -- particularly for the urban poor. Although malls appear more public and democratic than the streets for the time being, the potential for segregation is implicit in their private character.
Retail development in Turkey: An account after two decades of shopping malls in the urban scene
The social, economic and environmental impacts of large-scale retail
outlets on existing retail and urban systems have been extensively
discussed in the planning literature. This article documents the last
two decades of transformation in Turkey's retail sector, which have been
characterized by a more organized development of the sector than
traditionally existed. We begin our analysis with the late 1980s and
early 1990s, when more-liberal and outward-looking policies began to
emerge in Turkish economic policy. Changes in the economy and related
legislation prepared a base for the subsequent transformations of that
decade, culminating, especially in large cities, in the development of
shopping malls as alternative retail spaces to traditional markets and
stores on a shopping street. We believe that the Turkish case reveals
specific aspects of resistance, adaptation and change, and thus needs a
detailed account. After providing a general picture of retailing and its
transformation in Turkey, we provide empirical evidence from Ankara, the
capital city, through which all important dynamics of retailing are
exemplified. To this end, we ask the following questions: What are the
evolving processes behind the existing location patterns of shopping
centres in Ankara? What is the extent of the change in definition of the
new public realm? How do street retailers survive? Who are the actors
and what are their approaches towards retail planning in Turkey? The
answers to these questions may provide implications for urban policy and
retail planning in Turkey. The case may also be interesting for
countries experiencing similar patterns of change and development, that
is, where the globalization process in retailing and consumption-related
sites began later than in other countries and observed fast-paced
development. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved