Urban elite on the fringes of the growth coalition: homeowners’ selective opposition to urban transformation in Istanbul

Abstract

This research is an examination of the role of the urban elite in an earthquake risk-driven urban transformation process in Istanbul, Turkey. By displaying the mechanisms through which urban transformation in Istanbul’s privileged areas is invited and implemented by the urban elite that I locate on the fringes of the growth machine, this research contributes to the literature on urban growth, and specifically the role of the urban elite in this growth coalition. This article displays the urban elite’s ambivalent approach, which I describe as selective opposition: simultaneously occurring growth-controlling discourses and growth-engaging activities by affluent residents, who are neither fully members nor opponents of the growth coalition and who critique growth politics from which they accumulate wealth. This research displays the mechanisms through which the urban elite reproduce their power, privilege, and wealth, and hence sheds light on the processes of inequality reproduction and affluence maintenance.