Policy-Oriented Urban Planning in 1930s in Turkey: Kocaeli Urban Plan

Abstract

Following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, urbanism became one of the main issues in the agenda of the State. Between 1923 and 1940, 117 cities and towns in Anatolia and Rumelia were planned. After planning cities demolished during the War of Independence, following the Great Depression in 1929, Etatism and Populism principles became the basis for policy-oriented development of urban space. This study aims at examining Kocaeli Urban Plan of 1935 (by Hermann Jansen) in the context Urban Planning approaches and the 1930s' political structure of the Republic of Turkey. In this perspective, the study is divided into three main parts. In the first part, I discuss 19th century and 20th century prevailing approaches of Urbanism in Europe and their relevance in Turkish urban planning practice. In the second part, I manifest general structure, issues and different periods of early Republican urban planning in Turkey. In the third part, I discuss the importance of the Kocaeli Urban Plan in this period as a model in addition to analyzing basic design and planning principles of the Plan. Further, I scrutinize similarities and differences of the Plan with European urbanism models.