The role of statist ındustrialization in urban planning in the early republican era

The creation of a national economy within the new borders was one of the primary goals of the young cadres of the new Turkish Republic in the 1930’s. The construction of new railways and the nationalization of existing companies were also seen as important steps towards the political and economic unification of the new state. Furthermore, industrialization and the creation of a Muslim Turkish bourgeoisie were seen as the main elements of national economic development. After 1929 World Economic Crisis, state-oriented economic policy was implemented in Turkey. In the framework of the principle of statism, state-led industrialization emerged as the government’s economy policy in 1930. In 1933, Sümerbank was established. The First and Second Five-Year Industry Plans were prepared and implemented in 1934-1938. A significant portion of the investments was carried out by Sümerbank and İşbank. In Turkey between 1930 and 1940 many state-owned factories such as Karabük Iron- Steel Factory (1937) were established throughout the country for agriculture, machinery, and textile industries. For the government, these industrial developments were the most important part of the economic project which aimed creating a strong national economy. During the statist industrialization campaign of the 1930s, the government founded many industrial state economic enterprises. On the other hand, aside from their role in industrial development, state economic enterprises are charged with social goals as the major components of regional development and interregional integration. In this framework, state factories appeared as the major agents of integration of industry with the city and the provision of public services. It is important to note that state-owned factories went beyond being only a production plant in terms of that they provided other facilities such as housing, training activities played an important role in the formation of new cities. In this way, the industry complexes contributed to the urbanization required by the statist industrialization. The aim of the study is to develop a historical approach towards the statist industrialization initiated in early 1930s and the inspiration of a new urbanization approach with its economic and social aspects. What was the importance of the state- owned factories for the urbanization from the viewpoint of the young Republic? In the light of this question, aside from their role in industrial development, in urban planning the social goals which state owned factories were charged with and the role of the statist industrialization in urban planning will be investigated in this study