Contesting the Coastline: Producing Publicness in Alsancak Kordonboyu, İzmir

Abstract

Rights of use and ownership of urban spaces in Türkiye’s neoliberal urbanization have triggered a constant negotiation of power between government, capital, and civil society since the 1980s. This study explores coastal urban space as a struggle area for economic, political, and social forces through the case of Alsancak Kordonboyu in İzmir. Critically, the Kordonboyu marks a shift from a resisted top-down highway project to a collaborative, design led reclamation of coastal publicness. By deciphering three decades of its transformation through spatial analysis, document review and interviews, the research reveals a unique trajectory of spatial production. Results demonstrate that the coastline has emerged as a contested urban space—created with the public, yet sometimes against the public—driven by grassroots mobilization and collaborative design culture. This reveals inherent contradictions within the right to the city, highlighting how collective resistance and institutional design efforts fundamentally redefine the boundaries of the public sphere.