THE EMPIRICAL ROLE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL ON URBAN TRANSFORMATION: A CASE STUDY OF ISTANBUL

The purpose of this study is to test the validity of the social capital knowledge that belongs to the local business community as an instrument for the formation of the initial strategies of urban transformation and to test the effect of independent variables in the formation of such social capital. This study takes as its point of departure the recently increasing interest in the role of social capital in planning and development, and the need for access to embedded knowledge in the sites of urban transformation. The lack of field data makes managing implemen-tations of urban transformation difficult, and these implementations are not supported by appropriate policies. It is important to study this issue in İstanbul, which is going through the process of urban transformation and harbors a variety of resources for social capital due to its unique conditions. The hypothesis of this study, which aims to contribute to research being conducted in the field, is that the levels of security, belonging, awareness, and expectations inherent in social capital can change according to the profile of the small business community and according to the characteristics of the physical capital in sites of urban transformation. In this study, con-ducted in 2012, data from the neighborhood of Çeliktepe were collected using ‘mixed methods social research.