Buyukcivelek, A; (2014) An investigation on the relationship between capitalism and formation of urban injustices: the case of organised food retailers in Ankara. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

The research examines whether organised food retail formats contribute to the formation of urban inequalities and if this is the case to see how this contribution is realised. Conventional approaches are found only to produce partial explanations and the research thus followed a Marxist methodology. With this comprehensive and also critical approach, it aims to first contextualise retail activities within the broader system of capitalist political economy and within the urbanisation process and investigates how inequalities are transferred between these systems. Initial researches suggested that the capitalist system, urbanisation process and retail production processes are tightly linked to each other. Further, inequalities created in the production processes are reflected in the urbanisation process. The research focuses on some particular elements to empirically test the theoretical findings in the neo-liberal era. The case of organised food retailers is taken as an exemplar activity both representing the key aspects of the capitalist system and urbanisation process. The case of Ankara (Turkey) is chosen as the spatial focus. Ankara, in addition to being the second largest city in Turkey, carries the privilege of having the largest active retail area per capita in Turkey. Furthermore, as a result of its stable employment profile the city is not only attractive for financial institutions but for other investors as well. All these are among the factors which make the city of Ankara a very interesting place to analyse the dynamics of capitalist political economy, the development of organised food retail landscapes and injustices born with the interaction of these processes. The empirical part of the research concentrates on spatial differentiations in Ankara’s organised food retail pattern and to discover the underlying reasons. It focuses on the relationship between the observed organised food retail geography and socio-economic characteristics of the neighbourhoods. The findings reveal that retailers tend to locate at most advantageous locations, reinforce established socio-economic differentiations and thus consolidate urban injustices with their selective locational preferences.

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