The Critical Evaluation of Housing Co-operatives

375 Pages·2009·2.13 MB·English

by  Alper Özkan

A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF HOUSING CO-OPERATIVES IN TURKEY WITHIN
THE FRAMEWORK OF COLLECTIVE ACTION THEORIES: A CASE STUDY IN
ANKARA AND İSTANBUL

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES
OF
MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

BY

ALPER ÖZKAN

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
IN
CITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING

FEBRUARY 2009
Approval of the thesis:

A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF HOUSING CO-OPERATIVES IN TURKEY
WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF COLLECTIVE ACTON THEORIES: A CASE
STUDY IN ANKARA AND İSTANBUL

submitted by ALPER ÖZKAN in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy in City and Regional Planning, Middle East
Technical University by,

Prof. Dr. Canan ÖZGEN ___________________
Dean, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences

Prof. Dr. Melih ERSOY ___________________
Head of Department, City and Regional Planning

Prof. Dr. Ali TÜREL ___________________
Supervisor, City and Regional Planning Dept., METU

Examining Committee Members:

Prof. Dr. İlhan TEKELİ ___________________
City and Regional Planning Dept., METU

Prof. Dr. Ali TÜREL ___________________
City and Regional Planning Dept., METU

Prof. Dr. A. Şule ÖZÜEKREN ___________________
Architecture Dept., İstanbul Technical University

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Helga Rittersberger TILIÇ ___________________
Sociology Dept., METU

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Serap KAYASÜ ___________________
City and Regional Planning Dept., METU

Date: 02.02.2009

I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and
presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also
declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and
referenced all material and results that are not original to this work.

Name, Last Name : Alper Özkan

Signature :

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ABSTRACT

A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF HOUSING CO-OPERATIVES IN TURKEY
WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF COLLECTIVE ACTION THEORIES: A
CASE STUDY IN ANKARA AND İSTANBUL

Özkan, Alper
Ph.D., Department of City and Regional Planning
Supervisor : Prof. Dr. Ali Türel

February 2009, 354 pages

Co-operatives and housing co-operatives as main consideration of the
dissertation are historically and philosophically developed institutions. Co-
operative culture, although emerged in Britain during early phases of the industrial
revolution, has been adapted by other countries within socialist, social democratic
and even communist systems. In the contemporary era, housing co-operatives
are still in existence and contribute housing production all over the world in every
economic and political system.

Institutional development of housing co-operatives in Turkey can be regarded as
a process of adapting a Western institution and it shows how contextual
differences result in changes in terms of ideology and implementation. In this
respect, the thesis aims to evaluate Turkish housing co-operatives by putting
forward their contextual differences. Housing co-operatives are non-governmental
organizations and produce considerable amount of housing in Turkey. The
dissertation regards housing co-operatives as a kind of collective action and
discusses underlying factors of success of them with respect to collective action
theories.

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Free riding, group size, critical mass, heterogeneity, network density and selective
incentives are the factors obtained from the Theory of Free Rider and the Theory
of Critical Mass and discussed regarding the Turkish co-operative development
case to be tested via “The Housing Co-operatives Interview Survey” in İstanbul
and Ankara.

The thesis’ findings provide that despite there might be expected effects of factors
on success of housing co-operatives, these factors might be different due to the
fact that they depends on desires of the critical mass; whether to act in favor of
collective or individual benefits.

Keywords: Housing Co-operatives (in Turkey), Free Riding, Critical Mass,
Heterogeneity, Selective Incentives
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ÖZ

TÜRKİYE’DEKİ KONUT KOOPERATİFLERİNİN KOLLEKTİF EYLEM
KURAMLARI ÇERÇEVESİNDE ELEŞTİREL BİR DEĞERLENDİRMESİ:
ANKARA VE İSTANBUL ALAN ÇALIŞMASI

Özkan, Alper
Doktora, Şehir ve Bölge Planlama Bölümü
Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Ali Türel

Şubat 2009, 354 sayfa

Kooperatifler ve tezin temel konusu olan konut kooperatifleri tarihi ve felsefi olarak
ortaya çıkmış kurumlardır. Kooperatif kültür, endüstri devriminin ilk aşamalarında
İngiltere’de ortaya çıkmış olsa da, sosyalist, sosyal demokrat ve hatta komünist
ülkelerde uygulanabilmiştir.

Türkiye’de konut kooperatiflerinin kurumsal gelişimi, bir batı kurumunun
adaptasyon süreci olarak düşünülebilir ve bu süreç bağlamsal farklılıkların
uygulama ve felsefe düzeyinde ne denli farklılıklara yol açabileceğini
göstermektedir. Bu bağlamda, tez Türk konut kooperatiflerini farklılıklarını da
vurgulayarak değerlendirmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Türkiye’de konut kooperatifleri, bir
sivil toplum örgütüdür ve konut üretimine ciddi katkılar sağlamaktadır. Tez konut
kooperatiflerine bir çeşit kolektif eylem olarak yaklaşmakta ve konut
kooperatiflerinin başarısını etkileyen faktörleri kolektif eylem kuramları
çerçevesinde tartışmaktadır.

Karşılıksız faydalanma, grup büyüklüğü, kritik çoğunluk, heterojenlik, ağ (iletişim)
yoğunluğu ve ayırıcı ceza/mükâfatlar gibi faktörler “Karşılıksız Faydalanma”

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(Hazıra Konma - Free Riding) ve “Kritik Çoğunluk” (Critical Mass) kuramlarından
elde edilmiş ve İstanbul ve Ankara da gerçekleştirilen “Konut Kooperatifleri Anket
Çalışmasında test edilmek üzere Türkiye’deki konut kooperatiflerinin gelişim
süreci dikkate alınarak tartışılmıştır. Tezin bulguları, konut kooperatiflerinin
başarısı açısından etkisi beklenebilecek faktörler olduğu halde, bu faktörlerin
etkilerinin değişken olabileceğini ve bu sürecin de kooperatifte bulunan kapasiteli
ve aktif yönetici/ortakların kooperatif yararına ya da bireysel çıkara göre hareket
etme isteklerine bağlı olduğunu göstermektedir.

Anahtar kelimeler: Konut Kooperatifleri (Türkiye’de), Karşılıksız Faydalanma,
Kritik Çoğunluk, Heterojenlik, Ayırıcı Ceza ve Mükâfatlar

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To My Parents and Family

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I express my deepest gratitude to Prof. Dr. Ali Türel for his guidance, advice and
encouragements. The thesis wouldn’t be realized without his supports. I also wish
to express sincere appreciation to Prof Dr. İlhan Tekeli for his insight and
commends. I would like to thank to other examining committee members, Prof. Dr.
A. Şule Özüekren, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Helga Rittersberger Tılıç and Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Serap Kayasü for their criticism, suggestions and the time patiently devoted.

Special thanks go to Deputy General Directors; Yusuf İnce and Mehmet Öztürk
and Section Director Turgay Ekinci from the Ministry of Industry and Trade and
Department Director Alp Erdem from the State Institute for Statistics for providing
the past and current records of housing co-operatives. I would like to extend my
thanks to Alper Aktan from Türkkent Housing Co-operative Association and Malik
Şat from Batıbirlik Housing Co-operative Union for sharing their views with me.

The professional interview survey study of Veri Research Inc. is gratefully
acknowledged. The interview survey study of the thesis was supported by METU
within the frame of Academic Research Project Program (BAP - 2005-02-02-01)

I would like to offer sincere thanks to my close friends, Ezgi Haliloğlu Kahraman,
M. Ali Kahraman for especially their significant helps at the submission phase of
the study, Müge Doksoy for technical assistance in correcting language parts and
Volkan Asar, Tolunay Saraç Yılmaz and Pınar Aypek Türker Devecigil for their
moral support during various difficulties of the study.

Finally, I am fully indebted to my dear wife Özge Özkan, my mother Şükran
Özkan and my father Hamit Özkan, my grandmother Ayşe Şah Balçık and other
family members (Özkans, Doksoys) who supported me in every aspect
throughout the study. This thesis dedicated to them.
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