27.11.2024
[Colloquium:] The Creation of a “Model City in the Anatolian Steppes”: Working of Spatial Fix in Eskişehir, Turkey
Thursday, 28 November 2024, 16.15 - 18.00 CET; Room 101, Institut für Soziologie (Wilhelmstr. 36, 72074 Tübingen) and via Zoom
On Thursday, 31 October (16.15 - 18.00 CET) Dr. Cansu Civelek (Global Encounter Fellow Tübingen) will give a talk on "The Creation of a “Model City in the Anatolian Steppes": Working of Spatial Fix in Eskişehir, Turkey". This talk will be held in room 101 at the Insitut für Soziologie (Wilhelmstraße 36, 72074 Tübingen) and can be followed online via Zoom. This event is the third session of the G-TURN colloquium "Urbanities in a Global Perspective: Crises, Change, and Continuity" of the winter term 2024/25.
Abstract:
Neoliberalism has shaped cities in varied ways, from rapid growth to disempowerment. This analysis explores how Eskişehir navigated disempowerment through leapfrogging strategies linked to the “spatial fix”. Far from passive in the face of neoliberal forces, Eskişehir's local elites leveraged political agency to counter and capitalize on constraints. The center-left opposition mayor employed multiscalar networking and symbolic revitalizations to overcome financial and political barriers. Framing the city as a hub of secularism and modernization, the “Eskişehir model” emerged as a counter-narrative to the ruling AKP's Islamist-nationalist vision, using ideological clashes as opportunities for urban repositioning. While these efforts helped reposition Eskişehir and consolidate political power, they also exposed and reinforced underlying inequalities. The celebrated Eskişehir model, though outwardly successful, masked persistent disparities, segregation, and structural inequities embedded within the city. Drawing on my previous research, I will discuss the impact of the uneven urban development on the urban poor and recently arrived refugees as well as increasing right-wing and far-right sentiments behind the celebrated “Eskişehir model”.
Bio:
Cansu Civelek graduated from the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara. She received her master's and doctoral degrees from the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna. Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Tübingen in Germany.