Urban Utopias and How They Fell Apart: The Political Ecology of Gezi Parkı

Abstract

Drawing on the insights of the field of political ecology, this chapter suggests that the Gezi protests represent ``the sudden but perhaps expected eruption of an urban grassroots movement for the defense of urban historical heritage or the collectively used city spaces'' that were deeply imbued with social memory and a sense of belonging.Tracingihe links between Erdo{\u{g}}an's recent urban development projects and the Ottoman nostalgia which has often been said to characterize AKP rule, Ömür Harman{\c{s}}ah shows us how the protests signify a fatal blow to Erdogans utopian vision, articulating with other ecologically conscious grassroots movements around the world.