A Big Plan for Small Homes: The Effort to Set Housing Standards in Turkey. (May 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Altürk, Emre
• Is Part Of: Journal of urban history. Volume 49:Number 3(2023)
• Page Start: 668
• Page End: 690
• Publication Date: 2023-05
• Subjects: space standards -- development plan -- floor-size limitation -- people's housing -- urban housing; Cities and towns -- History -- Periodicals; 909.09732
• DOI: 10.1177/00961442211017496
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0096-1442

Abstract

This article is about the short-lived space standards for urban housing in Turkey. Introduced in the 1960s, the standards were a crucial part of a policy that aimed to balance the housing demand and the development agenda by steering the market toward affordable housing. The Turkish state was not a significant actor in housing production. Nor had it ever before substantially intervened to regulate the housing market. The standards, however, exemplified a bold move stemming from a welfare and planning perspective. Although standards' influence was curbed, the policy is important to address as it aimed to remedy a problem that continues today, namely, the disjunction between the housing provision and the means of the middle- and low-income groups. While a sixty-year-old policy does not provide immediate answers for today, it does offer insight into the history and context of some of the current housing issues.