Research Assistant H. Aysun ÖZKAN YAZAR from IMU Department of Urban and Regional Planning presented her study titled ‘Governance Relations in Gated Communities: Istanbul Example’ in Istanbul Housing Summit as a guest speaker on 3 December, 2021. She evaluated good governance practices in gated communities in Istanbul.
ÖZKAN YAZAR started her presentation by defining the concept of ‘gated community’ and its conceptual evolution. She pointed out to the privatization process of housing areas and their management and mentioned the phenomenon of restricted public space in cities. She noted that gated communities are identified with definitions like ‘micromanagement’ and ‘micro municipalities’ in the planning literature while they have become a new type and reform for regional organization.
ÖZKAN YAZAR also remarked that gated communities do not solely have the housing function anymore and they are a shining example of good governance. Rather, they constitute a new form of governance and organization structure integrated in the current urban dynamics including different actors (either private or public sector), management tools, processes, and self-management skills. On the other hand, she said that although gated communities are a physical and spatial part of the city, they are not fully integrated in planning policies and urban management in Istanbul, and they have created institutional conflicts since their number have increased drastically over the last three decades. In her study, ÖZKAN YAZAR evaluated the management capacity and organizational structure of gated communities by semi-structured interviews which she conducted on selected housing projects and their actors like developers, site managements and local administrations. By all accounts, she emphasized that making gated communities more manageable, sustainable, and efficient in terms of financial sources, service supply, common living conditions and institutional relations requires developing a consistent and comprehensive legal basis. She further claimed that it is important to develop legal remedies and integrate them with planning laws and institutions to clarify institutional integration, coordination and collaboration between actors and to ensure good governance.