Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Uluslararası Avrasya Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, cilt.9, sa.31, ss.648-671, 2018 (Hakemli Dergi)
In this paper, gecekondus slumization process has been described through the example of Mersin
province. The subject which was dealt with can be called as the space-culture crisis of the
modern society. Although the integration of different fractions of society is predicted in the
modernization theories, the disintegration processes are gradually deepening especially in the big
metropolis. The gecekondus which spread over the cities after the 1950s have become the space
of the losers, although initially, they have harbored the hopes for holding on to the city for the
social groups which have recently come from the rural areas. Within this context, the gecekondus
are "slumizing." On the one hand, new self-interested capitalistic relations and the increasing
poverty; on the other hand, new alignments which can be of an ethnic, sectarian or class
character both are dissolving the traditional gecekondu structure. Gecekondus have started to
be referred as both poverty pools which harbor unqualified labor-power and criminal districts in
which the activities such as violence, theft or drugs are concentrated. The sense of belonging to
space gradually vanishes in gecekondus. Now, after this observation, we have tried to describe
the slumization tendency in Mersin gecekondus based on a survey which has been applied to 250
dwellings.