Recentralization of Urban Policies in Turkey

This chapter examines the process of recentralization in Turkey, focusing on its impact on urban governance. While Turkey has historically oscillated between centralization and decentralization, the 2010s marked a decisive shift toward recentralization, particularly in urban policies. The central government increasingly reclaimed political, administrative, and fiscal authority from local municipalities, reversing the decentralizing reforms of the 2000s. This shift was justified on economic grounds—aiming for efficiency and crisis management—while also serving political objectives, such as controlling opposition-led municipalities and consolidating executive power. Through legal and administrative reforms, key urban governance functions, including zoning, housing, and infrastructure planning, were transferred from municipalities to central agencies such as the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change and the Housing Development Administration (TOKI). By exploring the Turkish case, this chapter contributes to the broader debate on the drivers and consequences of recentralization, illustrating how urban governance has become a critical arena for state rescaling and constraining local government autonomy.