Organic Intellectuals of Urban Politics? Turkish Urban Professionals as Political Agents, 1960—80

Abstract

The post-war period in Turkey witnessed a rapid phase of urbanisation that widely shaped the social and political environment during the 1960s and the 1970s. In this period, which was marked by the extensive politicisation of the urban masses, urban problems entered into the realm of daily politics and urban politics evolved into an autonomous realm of struggle. This article analyses the role played by Turkish architects and urban planners, who will homogeneously be labelled as urban professionals, within this process. The intention is to scrutinise the counter-hegemonic potentials of a political agency on the part of urban professionals with reference to the Gramscian concept of `organic intellectuals'.