Global Image Hegemony: Istanbul's Gated Communities as the New Marketing Icons

Abstract

In this paper we investigated how marketing strategies of the developing consumer society has affected housing production in Istanbul as a corollary development ofglobalization in Turkey. We aim to analyze marketing strategies as active agents thatshape the design of emerging gated communities in Istanbul through advertisingmedia based on the theme of 'an ideal life style,' in the form of TV commercials,newspaper ads, publicity brochures etc. We focus on the representation anddissemination of this elusive 'ideal' to the public via the advertising campaigns of thesehousing settlements. Therefore the cases studied in the paper concentrates on theTurkish architectural scene after 1990, when consumer culture's most significantimpacts on architectural products are observed. Marketing of a new type ofsuburbanization in Turkey is concomitant with the rise of a new middle class having ahigh purchasing power and these housing projects are marketed via life stylecharacteristics 'desired' by this class. © 2013 Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research.