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Paper Short Abstract:

This paper explores long-lasting uncertainties of urban policies on a slums zone in Eskişehir, Turkey which have led to multi-layered forms of ruination, abandonment, depopulation of a massive landscape, and dispossession of its residents – both older residents and refugee newcomers.

Paper Abstract:

Karapınar zone in Eskişehir has been subject to urban renewal initiatives of municipal governments since 2011 which have been repeatedly disrupted due to political and financial conflicts among various stakeholders of the gecekondu renewal projects leading to an uneven restructuring of urban space and abandonment of massive landscape, buildings, as well as its residents. The ongoing process of abandonment and the future uncertainties also resulted in the depopulation of the zone that has caused not only spatial ruination but also social decay.

On the other hand, designated to be one of the satellite cities in Turkey, Eskişehir has been a city where refugees under International Protection, mainly from Afghanistan, have been emplaced. During the process of abandonment and depopulation, therefore, Karapınar has become a place where refugees have settled. Despite the initial promises of modernization and spatial revival, the paper ethnographically investigates spatio-temporal dynamics of these disrupted renewal initiatives that resulted in spatial and social loss. The paper discusses multiple forms of socioeconomic and political abandonment of its both older residents and newcomers, as well as transgression, affective politics, conflicts, and also emerging sociabilities among the policy makers and residents.