Kent plancısının politik rolü: Türkiye deneyiminden çıkarımlar

Abstract

The article focuses on the political role of the urban planner, which is gaining importance in the planning literature. Its purpose is to disclose the practical meaning of the political role that comes as an alternative to the roles of technocrat and communicator/negotiator planner, to show the political roles that occur at concrete level; and to discuss the opportunities and obstacles they face based on the Turkish example. The article first looks at the theoretical foundations of the political role focusing on the question of 'what is political?', based on the discussions in the field of political philosophy. The place of the political role in the planning literature is examined, including the criticisms against the communicative planning. Then, the political roles that emerge in the processes of supporting and accompanying the neighbourhoods under the threat of urban transformation based on land rent generation, in the opposition processes carried out by the planners to defend public spaces, and in the legal processes carried out by the Chamber of City Planners against neoliberal urban projects are examined. Three different political roles are defined; the accompanying role, the defender/activist role of public spaces, and the legal struggling role. The article finally argues that the planner has political roles that differ according to the nature of planning processes, revealing their vitality for democratization of planning. Moreover, the article makes implications with regards to the time dimension of the political role, its relationship with other planner roles and finally on its continuity and strength.