Mamak - Strategies relating to Growth and Slums, Housing Issues and Cost of Living | ||||
The Egyptian Journal of Environmental Change | ||||
Article 1, Volume 14, Issue 3, November 2022, Page 1-22 PDF (2.8 MB) | ||||
Document Type: Peer-reviewed articles | ||||
DOI: 10.21608/ejec.2022.266812 | ||||
View on SCiNiTO | ||||
Abstract | ||||
Abstract Mamak is a metropolitan District in the Province of Ankara, Turkey and the 2010 Census reports a population of 549,585 and covers an area of 478km². Since the 1920s, migrants left the agricultural sector and settled in the urban areas of Mamak in search of employment and a better life. However, there was inadequate employment opportunities and the migrants experienced extreme poverty, (defined using the World Bank’s Europe regional poverty lines of 2.5 and 5 USD PPP) and squatted on both public and private land that was referred to as the slums. The slums in Mamak’s urban areas were overcrowded and structurally unsafe with poor water and sanitation infrastructure. The economy was in a poor state as businesses were reluctant to trade and invest in Mamak due to the slums occupying prime urban land and the government was not receiving revenue through rates to reinvest into the community. Given the poor state of the economy in Ankara, the health issues arising out of the appalling conditions in the slums and the absolute poverty the squatters were experiencing, the Turkish Government worked with the World Bank and the Social Assistance and Solidarity Fund on a program to alleviate poverty and provide a better life for the slum dwellers in Mamak (Sener 2010 p56). A pilot project called the Squatter Improvement Program (SIP) is proposed to demonstrate strategies that can assist to alleviate the existing problems caused by growth and slums in Mamak. The implementation of this program will reduce the percentage of the community experiencing absolute poverty and will have an indirect approach to creating employment and improving the life of the squatter. | ||||
Keywords | ||||
MAMAK; housing; cost of living; Ancara; Turkey | ||||
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