İDEALKENT

Yazarlar: Seda DOĞAN

Konular:-

Anahtar Kelimeler:Urban space,Gated communities,Imagined communities,Social fragmentation,Othering

Özet: If we imagine a line with absolute cosmopolitism at one pole and absolute homogeneity on the other pole, a gated community surrounded by physical barriers can be considered as the perfect illustration of absolute homogeneity. But such a presupposition does not imply that there is no inclusion/exclusion mechanism when one cannot see any physical barrier. This is because segregation occurs via symbolic barriers in the absence of visible boundaries. In such conditions, –like their counterparts living in gated communities– the inhabitants of non-gated districts also have a distinctive ‘we’ image. In short, while using different methods, both physical and symbolic barriers entail similar consequences. In order to understand this process, based on in-depth interviews with Etiler Sitesi and Nişantaşı inhabitants, this study aims to analyze how symbolic and physical barriers contribute to the construction of the notion of “we”, how it affects the perception of the “Other”, and finally how it transforms the unified urban fabric.

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