Scholarlink

<p>This article analyzes the transformation of urban green spaces in Türkiye through the case of Validebağ Grove in Istanbul, situating it within the country’s political and economic shifts since the 1970s. Once a historically and ecologically significant site, the grove has come under increasing pressure from urban development, particularly following neoliberal reforms that reframed green areas as economic assets. From the 2000s onward, under the <i>New Türkiye</i> vision, green spaces have also been mobilized as instruments of ideological and spatial governance, often targeted by redevelopment projects such as the <i>Nation’s Gardens</i>. Drawing on a political ecology perspective, the study conceptualizes this shift as part of authoritarian-neoliberal urbanism, where processes of dispossession and ideological legitimation operate together. The findings show that Validebağ provides a revealing case through which to understand how urban green spaces become politically charged sites of environmental governance, political power, and democratic resistance.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

The politics of the environment: the transformation of green spaces through the example of Validebağ Grove in İstanbul

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月15日

查看全文
  • Sibel Akyıldız

摘要

This article analyzes the transformation of urban green spaces in Türkiye through the case of Validebağ Grove in Istanbul, situating it within the country’s political and economic shifts since the 1970s. Once a historically and ecologically significant site, the grove has come under increasing pressure from urban development, particularly following neoliberal reforms that reframed green areas as economic assets. From the 2000s onward, under the New Türkiye vision, green spaces have also been mobilized as instruments of ideological and spatial governance, often targeted by redevelopment projects such as the Nation’s Gardens. Drawing on a political ecology perspective, the study conceptualizes this shift as part of authoritarian-neoliberal urbanism, where processes of dispossession and ideological legitimation operate together. The findings show that Validebağ provides a revealing case through which to understand how urban green spaces become politically charged sites of environmental governance, political power, and democratic resistance.