Resettlement of immigrants and planning in Izmir during the Hamidian Period

Abstract

This study concentrates on the immigration into Anatolia from the Balkans, Caucasian and Crete to Izmir and the resettlement policies geared toward immigrants' establishment in the new land during the Hamidian Period. The aim of study is to investigate the efficiency of planning in term of the application of resettlement decisions that had been structured by the population policies. The other aim is determining the importance of the planning for immigrant's settlements in the late Ottoman planning practice. The planning concept is evaluated in the urban, regional and countrywide scale rather than referring to the physical organisation of the urban space. This study intends, by way of analysing the construction process of the immigrant districts, to reveal the characteristics of the construction and resettlement activities and how the central and local dynamics to realise them, rather than the physical arrangement of the districts. The role of the local administration, the special commissions for charity, local press and local residents has been investigated along with the resettlement process in the city of İzmir and the vilayet of Aydın. The significance of philanthropic activities is revealed in the construction and resettlement process.The official documents, the maps of İzmir and Western Anatolia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries will be investigated along with the news reporting in the İzmir region geared towards the settlement of immigrants.