ENHR Annual Conference 2023- Urban Regeneration: Shines and Shadows, Lodz, Poland, 28 - 30 June 2023, pp.41
The production of architecture politically includes multilayered actors and actant networks. The debates on the relationship between architecture and ideology mainly focus on two approaches: (1) Architecture is an ideological tool and (2) Contrary to this passive role, space defines the place of agony in terms of politics. In order to gather both perspectives, we offer that architecture plays a role in the line from antagonism to agonism. Recently, the relationship between architecture and populism has increased. The political discourses encountered in the 21st century, which is described as the "age of populism", also target architecture. One of the most significant facts of populism is that it refers to the archaic codes of society (based on race, tradition, etc.) to manipulate people and it builds its discourse on the opposition of "us and them". Although this movement aims to build a mainstream discourse in the public sphere, it often manifests itself in housing to construct a society consisting of ideal individuals and families. It is obvious that these attempts, observed frequently worldwide, have an influence on housing policies and reveal the spatial consequences in Turkey. Populism has a broad impact on Turkey's political culture, and we can observe its reflections on the housing field in different dimensions, from the establishment of the Republic to the immediate present. This paper argues populism and architecture relations through housing production in Turkey over the periods defined according to the specific conditions of Turkey as well as determinant global facts: (1)1908-1938: Modernization through intellectual populism, (2) 1939-1950: A regionalist break to modernism, (3) 1950-1980: Nationalist populism and the rise of mass culture, (4) 1980-2001: Neoliberal populism and postmodern architecture(s), (5)2002-today: Religious populism and kitsch .