Paper short abstract:

In Istanbul, urbanites rely on müteahhits (contractors)to rebuild before earthquakes. Hindered by insecure housing, they seek contractors who can "tweak" rules.I explore small-scale redevelopment projects of müteahhits to theorize intertwining of urban aspirations with the looming threat of disaster

Paper long abstract:

In Istanbul, most urbanites wait for the intervention of müteahhits (smaller contractors/property developers) to rebuild their apartments before earthquakes strike. Constrained by insecure housing, absent state support, and legally ambiguous ownership, in contrast to Istanbul’s upper classes residing in newer and secure apartments, the urban majority perpetually seeks smaller contractors capable of “tweaking” rules, plans, and regulations to rebuild their future homes, thereby shaping the trajectory of urban futures. Müteahhits, often overseeing ten to fifty workers and operating in small plots of four to five hundred square meters, function as informal problem-solvers, navigating the intricate web of residents, officials, traders, subcontractors, and other urban actors. This paper scrutinizes "tweaking" as a generative social and political practice in small-scale urban redevelopment, focusing on how contractors broker relations through adjustments in politics, informality, and moral conduct. Based on my ethnographic fieldwork conducted from October 2022 to November 2023 in the earthquake-prone Avcılar district of Istanbul, within the offices and construction sites of müteahhits, I analyze how piece-meal, plot-by-plot, small urban redevelopment projects are imagined and enacted through müteahhit’s finer-grained intermediary work of preparing contracts, abating political tensions, and mobilizing informal local networks to get projects done. Drawing on the literature on urban intermediaries, temporality, and moral economy, the paper seeks to contribute to debates on how people value urban change amidst intertwined futures, oscillating between aspirations for prosperity and the haunting specter of imminent disaster.