OVERVIEW OF URBAN AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT ISSUES

Urbanization Issues

2. 
   Turkey’s rapid urbanization is arguably the strongest socio-economic force that has changed peoples’ lives since the foundation of the Turkish republic in 1923. Census data clearly illustrates the magnitude of this large change in settlement patterns. Fifty years ago, a mere 5.2 million, or 25% of the total population of 21 million lived in urban areas. The 2000 census concluded that 44.1 million, or 65% of the total population of 67.8 million was urban based (Table 2.1). This implies that the urban population has grown by a rate of 4.4% per year during the last 50 years, or doubled in size every 20 years, and this can be compared to an average growth rate of 2.3 percent per year for the national population as a whole. The total number of rural residents has in fact dropped since 1980.
   

3. 
   International experience suggests that this urbanization trend will continue in line with Turkey’s economic growth and development, and that the urbanization rate will stabilize at around 75-85%. This would mean that the most intensive phase of Turkey’s rural-to-urban migration is probably over, although substantial migration can still be expected for at least another decade. Turkish census data confirms that urbanization is indeed proceeding at a slower rate than in the past. Between 1927 and 1950, the urban population increased by about 20% every ten years, but the period 1950-1960 saw the most rapid urbanization ever as the urban population grew by 71%. The urban migration rate then fell during the 60’s and 70’s, but again hit a high of 69% during the economic boom in the 1980’s. During the 1990’s the growth of the urban population, at 33%, was the lowest since the 1940’s (Table 2.2).
   

3. 
   Within urban Turkey, growth has been and remains concentrated in a few large cities, while the vast majority of the municipalities have very small populations. More than 20% of the country’s urban population lives in Istanbul’s various district municipalities, and half of the urban population lives in the seven largest urban settlements (each of which includes several municipalities). Demographic data for 2002 shows that on average, municipalities have about 15 thousand residents. About 75% of the total urban population live in the 352 largest municipalities with an average of 104,000 residents per municipality. The remaining 2,848 municipalities have an average population size of about 4,000.
   

3. 
   The policy implication of this demographic data is that any strategy for urban Turkey would need to be two-pronged and focus on both the large and the small municipalities with different levels of institutional capacity and potential for raising local revenues.
   

3. 
   The sweeping changes brought about by the urbanization have been the subject of many studies and a lively public debate. The dominance of the traditional rural patriarchal headed extended family has been broken and increasingly replaced with salaried nuclear families. Despite the changes, the links to rural roots remain strong and there are many forms of mutual support between geographically separated households and relatives. The home village is an important source of security and often the best “shock-absorber” and last resort during times of unemployment or illness, especially for the poor and the migrant workers who come to the cities for job opportunities.
   

3. 
   Most new urban migrants first stay with friends and relatives in the town of their choice. After some time, they often take advantage of a law stating that a dwelling built on public land cannot be torn down if it has four walls and a roof before the break of day. These dwellings are called ‘gecekondus’ (meaning placed-over-night), housing about 4% of the urban population according to a recent study (Table 2.4). Other studies estimate that a higher percentage of the urban population live in ‘gecekondus’, especially in large and rapidly growing urban areas. Social interaction is mainly in the ‘hemseri’ (co-villagers), typically including tens of households, often of close kin, from where business and friendships develop. Cooperation extends to transport, sharing of tools and social controls such as neighborhood security watch. A ‘mahalle’ (neighborhood) is often composed of hundreds of households and frequently the main platform from which pressure on local authorities and politicians to gather ownership rights of land and housing and to bring municipal services to the neighborhood is exercised. ‘Mahalle’, coffeehouses, and the local mosque are often the social gathering place, as is the school, which brings together children and families from different backgrounds.
   

9. 
   Turkey’s urban areas have good coverage of basic infrastructure services, although the poor tend to receive a lower standard of services compared to the non-poor (Table 2.4). However, the efficiency of services is often not high and investment needs for the future are not adequately addressed. This is especially relevant as Turkey plans to upgrade its basic infrastructure services to meet EU standards. Thus, reforms in the municipal sector should develop incentives for sustainable operations at the municipal level that would allow for the expansion and upgrading of the infrastructure stock and the level of services.