Aydın Tiryaki (2026)

The Bahçelievler district of Ankara is not merely a residential area; it is a symbol of Republican modernism, of planned urbanism bearing the traces of the Jansen Plan, and of an educated population. Established as the Republic’s first mass housing cooperative project in a “garden-style” order, this district has created a unique neighborhood culture from that day to this. As a resident of this district since 1977—for nearly half a century—I have been watching not just the change of the street from my window, but essentially an “urbanism experiment.”

Transformation is Mandatory and Inevitable

First of all, it is crucial to emphasize this truth: Urban transformation is not a luxury, but a vital necessity. It is imperative to renew buildings that have completed their economic life and lack earthquake safety. It is the most natural right of our people to wish to live in safer, modern, and comfortable homes with elevators and parking lots. Therefore, avoiding urban transformation is neither possible nor right. Our objection is not to the transformation itself, but to what the citizens are forced to endure while this inevitable process is being managed. The goal should be to renew buildings, not to make lives unbearable.

4 Construction Sites in 700 Meters: No Place to Escape

Today, when I want to walk from my house in Bahçelievler to my brother’s house, just 700 meters away, I am forced to pass in front of exactly 4 separate construction sites. When I change my route to “escape the dust,” this time I face the blockade of another massive construction site. In short, there are no “alternative escape routes” left for those living in this neighborhood. We have been forced to live not side-by-side with urban transformation, but “inside” it.

High Education Level, Low Construction Standards

Bahçelievler is one of the regions with the highest education level and the most developed urban consciousness in Turkey. One expects that “In such a neighborhood, both the contractor and the supervising municipality would show care appropriate to the texture of the district.”

However, unfortunately, the scene we face is no different from any unplanned suburb. In this decent neighborhood of the Republic; makeshift construction hoardings made by nailing together old doors from demolished buildings, rusty iron bars occupying the sidewalk for months, and muddy roads that are not cleaned with the excuse “it will get dirty again anyway” are dominant. The fact that the neighborhood is “elite” cannot prevent the construction site from being “brutal.”

Fitting Two Buildings into One Lifetime: “The Second Transformation”

What we are witnessing today on the streets of Bahçelievler is not just the renewal of buildings, but also a bitter tableau of how national wealth and resources are spent. I am witnessing that the buildings which were built as “new” when I moved to this district in 1977 are being demolished and rebuilt today on the grounds that they have “completed their life span” (The Second Transformation).

While buildings in the West live for centuries, here, two or even three buildings are squeezed into a single human life. This rapid consumption cycle turns our streets into an unending construction tunnel.

Çankaya Must Be an Example

Bahçelievler and its affiliated Çankaya Municipality is the most popular district of Turkey. This is the place that should be a “role model” for all of Turkey in terms of urban planning practices. If even in Çankaya we cannot walk on the sidewalk, are subjected to intense construction pressure, and experience the logic that “citizens’ rights are suspended until construction is finished,” what should other districts do?

We, as residents of Bahçelievler, deserve a “respectful construction process” just as much as we deserve “perfect buildings.” Our demand is clear: We want a civilized transformation management that befits the quality of this district, is supervised, and does not victimize the citizen. Because Çankaya is not “just anywhere in Turkey”; it must be the place where standards are set.

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A Note on Methods and Tools: All observations, ideas, and solution proposals in this study are the author’s own. AI was utilized as an information source for researching and compiling relevant topics strictly based on the author’s inquiries, requests, and directions; additionally, it provided writing assistance during the drafting process. (The research-based compilation and English writing process of this text were supported by AI as a specialized assistant.)