Dynamics of Gentrification in a Seashore Town: the Case of Alaçatı, Izmir

Abstract

This thesis examines the dynamics of the gentrification processes in Alaçatı (İzmir). The dynamics are the economic, political and social factors, the actors (the gentrifiers, the local people, the financial capital and the state) and the economic, social and physical impacts of gentrification. Compared to the cases in İstanbul and Ankara, Alaçatı as a small seashore town presents new insights about gentrification processes in Turkey. Based on the political-economic approaches, this thesis assumes that the capitalist accumulation processes since the 1980s in Turkey affect the process of gentrification in Alaçatı. My interviews with groups of residents in Alaçatı provided the study data. Study findings suggest that along with the public interventions, Alaçatı experienced a shift from agriculture to tourism, which attracted a group of pioneer gentrifiers and then other gentrifiers with high income from metropolitan cities who were searching for a small-town-living and jobs in tourism sector. This process affected economic, social and physical space of Alaçatı positively and negatively.