Urban Social Movements in Turkey - Hardcover

by Emrah Akyüz (Author)

Many Turkish cities have witnessed increasing micro and macro-spatial dimensions in urban social movements, shaping urban space over recent decades. Typical Turkish urban social movements have generally shared the same goals, been based on actors' lower-class backgrounds and locally-rooted associations, and have employed similar types of action and strategies against authority. However, the Gezi Park protests were of a singular and different character. This book aims to explore the Gezi Park protests, and discusses their role in changing the character of urban social movements in Turkey, by asking the following questions: What social, political, and economic forces changed the structure of the protests over the years in Turkey? In turn, how has the Gezi Park movement shaped our understanding of new Turkish urban social movements?

Author Biography

Emrah Akyüz is Associate Professor of Environmental Policy and Energy Politics at Bingol University, in Turkey, where he has taught since 2020. He completed his master's degree at Edinburgh University with a thesis on "urban social movements" and received his Ph.D. from the University of Leeds with a thesis on the effects of the Fukushima and Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accidents on human rights. Dr. Akyüz conducts scientific research on environmental and energy policy. His books include Nuclear Power and Human Rights in Japan: The Fallout of Fukushima, 100 Unknown Scientific Facts on Environmental Issues, Save the World: Clean Environment Scientific Secrets, ABC of Environmental Science: Environmental Issues and Policies for Beginners, Environment and Human Rights: A Study on Turkey, City and Urbanization with Its Different Dimensions (ed.), Environmental Justice, and Environmental Ethics and Spinoza (ed.), and Nuclear Energy: Perception or Reality?