Tarihi Kent Merkezlerinde Tüketim Mekânlarının Dönüşümü: Yeldeğirmeni Mahallesi Örneği

Abstract

eldeğirmeni Mahallesi tanınırlığı her geçen gün artan tarihi bir konut bölgesidir. Yerleşimin ortaya çıktığı ilk günden günümüze kozmopolit bir yapıya sahip olmuştur. Türkiye’nin neoliberal ekonomik politikaları benimsediği 2000 yılı sonrasında yoğun bir kentsel hareketlilik altındadır. Yeni kentli gruplar mahalleye gelmekte ve buraya yerleşmektedir. Bunun bir sonucu olarak mahallenin çarşı izini oluşturan Karakolhane Caddesi’nde yeni tüketim mekânları ortaya çıkmaktadır. Bu mekânlar yeni sakinlerin yaşam tarzlarıyla ilişkili tüketim pratiklerini yansıtmaktadır. Mekân-yer ve zaman teorileri küreselleşmenin etkisiyle mekânın zaman bağlamından koptuğunu aktarmaktadır. Bu anlamda kimlik, tarih ya da ilişkiden arınmış mekânlar ortaya çıkmaktadır. Tüketim mekânları da bu anlamda dünyanın herhangi bir noktasında aynı özellikleri gösteren anlamdan arındırılmış benzer mekânlar haline gelmektedir. Karakolhane Caddesi üzerindeki tüketim mekânları incelendiğinde bu önermeye aykırı düşecek şekilde tüketim mekânları olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Mahallede geleneksel mahalle dokusu içinde bulunan esnaf ve zanaatkarlar ile yeni nesil işletmelere ve alternatif gruplara ait mekânlar bir arada bulunabilmektedir. Bu durum bize Yeldeğirmeni Mahallesi’nde genel teorilerin işaret ettiğinin ötesinde mikro bir model geliştiğini göstermektedir. Araştırmada, Yeldeğirmeni’nin değişen tüketim pratikleri ve yeni kent sakinleri ile ortaya çıkan mekânsal katmanlaşması mekân-yer-zaman ile tüketim teorileri ışığında incelenecektir

Consumption culture has transformed into a norm which is adopted similarly in the different regions of the world. Under the effect of transformed practices, consumption spaces are produced as spaces which present similar typological and stylistic features. Most of the theories state that time and space have purified their cultural and local identities and differences with globalisation. Existence of the identical consumption spaces in the city centres causes to differentiate social strata, daily life practices and time cycle, ultimately to lose their identity and memory, in the other words, to join a transformation process. However, the consumption spaces that are apart from the boundaries drawn by widely adopted theories on time-space and consumption, authentic consumption spaces, and related urban areas are seen around the world. Yeldeğirmeni Neighbourhood is a historical dwelling zone in İstanbul where the popularity of the field had increased rapidly. From the first day that it occurred to today, the neighbourhood has been transformed spatial and morphologically under the effect of the settlers who have different socio-economic and cultural identities. After the 2000s, Turkey has adopted neo-liberal policies predominately. As a result of this neo-liberal policies, İstanbul and the historical dwelling zones of the city is under the effect of domestic mobility. Yeldeğirmeni is one of the neighbourhoods which are affected by this wave. New urbanite groups have moved into the neighbourhood and settled down here. The demographic change and population activity had seen especially on Karakolhane Street which is the local bazaar of the residential area, and side roads. As a result of new lifestyles and consumption habits of the new locals, new types of consumption spaces had emerged in the neighbourhood. Most of the new spaces are seen on Karakolhane street. It is obvious that these spaces represent the consumption practices and also the new dwellers of Yeldeğirmeni. In this study, the transformation of the neighbourhood was examined as a field study. During the expiatory study which was held before the field study, the urban transformation and mobility are observed in Yeldeğirmeni. As a result of this, the initial hypothesis of the study was determined as "The identification of consumption places in Yeldeğirmeni District under the influence of new users and consumption styles". Before the field study, examining the neighbourhood by gentrification theories was seemed possible. However, in the course of the field study, it has been determined that social transformation in Yeldeğirmeni Neighbourhood does not take place in one dimension. The data has shown us that the new residents who came to the neighbourhood (with their new lifestyles) and the old locals can live together. The old and new locals are establishing multi-layered relations with each other. As a result of this, consumption spaces transformed and varied to represent different consumption and lifestyles. Authentic structures that differ from general gentrification theories have been observed in the field. The aim of the study is to examine the transformation in a city centre in the scope of spatial scale, to explain the differences and similarities of the old and new consumption spaces by relating with the change of the social structure in the neighbourhood. The problematic of the study is the inability to explain the transformation in Karakolhane Street with accepted general judgments about consumption, time, space and place. In this sense, the main purpose of the study is to prove the difference and authenticity of the transformation in the area compared to other city centres by examining the types of consumption spaces. The physical borders are the area between Karakolhane Street and the first side roads that are parallel to the main street. The field study was conducted by observation in-situ, personal interviews, photographing, archive scanning in primary and secondary sources, drawing sketches of the spaces. The spaces within the study boundary are categorised under three main titles according to their general functions, and thirty seven subtitles have been identified under these titles. The main titles obtained are food & beverage spaces, crafts spaces and shopping spaces, respectively. Spatial variety highly related to the life-styles, that is consumption practices. Ergo, on the first level, the generations of the consumption spaces were determined. Five generations are revealed: First generation, second generation, new generation, chain, and anarko consumption spaces. Each type of consumption space in the area belongs to one of the generations listed. In other words, these generations contain different functions within themselves. When the consumption spaces in the field were examined, it has been determined that are several samples that will contradict spaces that