Reproducción de las golondrinas de mar

Soganli Neighborhood is located to the north of the historic city center. The northern part of Soganli is on Bursa plains, a protected area with growth restrictions; there is also a large vacant plot in the southern part of the neighborhood. In the late 1960s, big producers in automotive industry started their operations in northern Bursa. This flow of industrial investment was followed by population growth in the form of workforce migrating to the city. Affordable housing development for working class and low-income residents did not accompany rapid industrial growth and migratory flows. Thus, early settlements in the Soganli neighborhood started in this environment in the form of spontaneously built dwellings in the early 1970s to meet the growing housing demand of the working class residents. The designated renewal area in the Soganli Neighborhood is mainly characterized by these former single-story informal settlements. These are unplanned areas and mostly without construction permits. Figure 6.9 is from the designated renewal area in Soganli Neighborhood.

Figure 6.9 Designated renewal area in Soganli Neighborhood

Settlement in Soganli started as spontaneous developments on the outskirts of the city in the vicinity of industry but it became an inner-city neighborhood as Bursa sprawled over the years. Property owner residents built additional stories to their single story dwellings and the density increased spontaneously over the years. Current residents of the neighborhood are predominantly homeowners and the tenant occupancy is low in the area. A very common residential pattern is the multifamily living in attached buildings, where three to four families live together. There is no strong opposition against redevelopment in the area among the residents but they are critical of renewal projects offering housing that is inadequate in terms of meeting current needs, i.e., offering a 1-2 bedroom unit in lieu of a 2-3 story multifamily dwelling. Soganli residents predominantly belong to low-income groups; their ability to pay for extra for housing is beyond their financial capacities because the majority of existing residents live at subsistence levels.

The Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning announced the renewal area in the neighborhood based on the Renewal Act II in August 2013. Unlike other designated renewal areas in the Osmangazi District, the ministry also announced a “reserve construction area” right next to the renewal area. In Figure 6.10, the reserve construction area is shaded in blue and the risky area is shaded in red. The idea of including a reserve construction area is to start new development in vacant plots; when new units are ready, residents can be relocated to these units enabling the demolition and redevelopment of the buildings in occupied “risky area.” The satellite views are from 2006 and 2014, respectively. The structure of the designated renewal area has not changed in this period. The vacant plots remained vacant and there is no new development within the designated renewal area in this period. There are new housing developments to the west of the designated renewal area.

Figure 6.10 Soganli neighborhood boundary; designated renewal area (shaded red area) and designated reserve construction area (shaded blue area) Satellite views from July 2006 (above) and September 2014 (below) (Source:

GoogleEarth).

The built environment within and outside the designated renewal area is very similar.

Buildings in the designated renewal area are of low-quality construction because a majority of these are former squatter settlements. The buildings and settlement to the east and south of the designated “risky area” are difficult to distinguish from the redevelopment zone.

6.4.2 Urban Renewal Actors

The Soganli Neighborhood formally became a part of the urban renewal program in August 2013 when the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning announced the area as renewal site based on Renewal Act II. The central government immediately authorized the Osmangazi

Municipality to conduct the redevelopment in Soganli.⁶³ As a matter of fact, the Soganli Neighborhood is one of the prioritized renewal areas according to Osmangazi Municipality’s Urban Renewal and Development Master Plan that came out in 2012.

After the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning authorized the Osmangazi District Municipality to proceed, the local government subcontracted with a private developer for the preliminary plans and architectural projects of the redevelopment in the area.⁶⁴ Figure 6.11 shows the proposed development in the designated renewal area. The municipality shared the information about the proposed development with the public in December 2014. The Osmangazi Municipality revealed its targets about the Soganli Neighborhood Redevelopment in its Strategic Plan for 2015-2019. Measured in raw percentages, the municipality aims to finish 30% of the project by the end of 2015 and the rest by 2017 (Osmangazi District Municipality Strategic Plan 2015-2019, p.107).

Chambers of Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) criticize and question the proposed development project for the Soganli Neighborhood. TMMOB Bursa offices emphasize that the planned public facilities such as schools and hospitals are inadequate to meet the projected population in the area after the renewal. Also, they suggest that the project underestimates the future population in the area once the new residencies are occupied. Also, the Chamber of Geophysical Engineers Bursa office states that the area is prone to soil liquefaction and this puts is the area at high risk category for new development (TMMOB Press Release January 2015⁶⁵).

The Osmangazi Municipality did not respond to or address these critiques but instead pursued the urban renewal agenda based on the revealed project. There has been no public reaction besides the one raised by TMMOB.

63 There is no evidence showing that Soganli was a part of redevelopment agenda of the local government before the enactment of Renewal Act II. For instance, Soganli redevelopment project is not mentioned in the district municipality’s strategic plans or performance evaluations until the Strategic Plan 2015-2019.

64 Osmangazi Municipality works with the same private developer that prepared the Urban Renewal Master Plan for the district municipality, Akpinar Neighborhood and Demirkapi Neighborhood preliminary plans for the redevelopment projects. Dogukan Imar is one of the biggest firms in the sector and it is based in Ankara.

Figure 6.11 Proposed redevelopment in Soganli neighborhood (Source: Bursa Metropolitan Municipality)

Current residents of Soganli are concerned about what the project will offer them in return of their current units (Interview 2014). Most of the existing residents are in low and middle income groups. Typically, their wealth and income is not enough to compensate the redevelopment in their neighborhoods. Yet, residents have not organized any neighborhood association to represent their interests in proposed redevelopment project. Residents are waiting for the municipality to approach and inform them about the future of their neighborhood and the proposed development project.

6.4.3 Summary

The majority of the designated renewal area in the Soganli Neighborhood consists of vacant land.⁶⁶ In terms of the surface area, only two-three story buildings occupy the 1/6 of the area, mainly used for residential purposes. Like many other designated renewal areas, settlement in the neighborhood started in the form of spontaneous informal settlements. The neighborhood became a central location over the years and the land values increase due the recreational investments to the north of the designated renewal area. Unlike other redevelopment projects, a large vacant plot is also included as a part of the designated renewal area. Soil liquefaction in the area increases the costs building earthquake resilient buildings. This increase in construction

66 About 36.4 hectares of the renewal area is announced as reserve area, which is basically vacant land with no construction atop. The remaining 7.2 hectares of designated renewal area is occupied with substandard low density housing units. In other words, 5/6 of the designated renewal area is vacant land, only the remaining 1/6 is

costs will also increase the unit costs new developments. Property owner residents in the area will have to incur higher prices if they choose to remain within the project are after the renewal.

A reserve construction area and risky area are two parts of the designated renewal area.

Following the Chamber of Geophysical Engineers’ declaration, the designated risky area is indeed prone to earthquake risk. This is following the very basic idea of renewal based on Renewal Act II; start construction in the reserve area and transfer the residents in the risky area to the new developments. However, the proposed project involves resettlement in the risky area, despite the concerns raised about soil liquefaction. The built environment within the designated risky area is very similar to the settlements outside the redevelopment area. Redevelopment within the designated area will generate disparities between the new and the existing built environment in the area. Existing residents of designated renewal area are concerned over what they will be offered in return of their current dwellings.

6.5 Renewal Area b22: Demirkapi Neighborhood