Exploring the concepts of belonging and place-making in post-industrial era: The case of Fethiye

Abstract

Over the last few decades, we have been seeing global processes of increased human mobility due to the alterations in political and financial realms. Transformations along this line have been predominantly reflected on two broad areas. The first one is related to the spatial reconfiguration of cities and concomitant integration of global markets into the local. The second domain concerns how these displaced individuals relate to the new community and make a place for themselves. However, this process of reconstruction has been explored, to large extent, in terms of reasons for migration, or financial, and cultural effects. In the case of pensioner foreign residents exhibiting distinctive features compared to other migrants, their lives have been extensively studied lately, but in their own entirety, excluding other constituents in the locality. However, with the growing interest in the ‘space’ as an active participant in social life, individuals’ experiences need to be explored through the concept of ‘belonging’. In this context, the major aim of this thesis is to explore how the residents of Fethiye, including not only foreign residents, but also in-state immigrants and the local people, work towards constructing their belonging to the city. ‘Spatial belonging’ is reinterpreted by employing concepts like place-making, performativity, and the politics of belonging among many others. To this end, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a number of residents from each group. It has been found out that almost all the informants believe that they belong to the city. Foreign residents tend to apply place-making strategies while concurrently trying to remanufacture their Britishness in communal spaces. However, their belonging seems to be disturbed by recent residency policies. On the other hand, the locals are observed to be involved in maintaining their space and culture amid financial and cultural changes by inventing mechanisms. Finally, in-state immigrants consisting of mainly pensioners seem to be socially and financially integrated.