Contemporary Urban Approach

Urban Approach of Contemporary Urban Theorists Contemporary urban theorists have concentrated on finding the effects of state involvement on the market mechanism. They are seperated from the traditional approach of not assessing the location of the cities as a data and have strived to establish a link between the theory and the real life since these effects are reflected in the structure of urban space. While the city has been established, the concept of desire line has established an approach that takes account of the relationship between the housing and workplaces. After II. World War, the new political winds in the world have led to the development of different urban life approaches and different efforts of urban perspective. The perspectives

The basic approach of space is structural, according to Castells. In his observations considered as the structuralist approach, Castell stated that to consider the space as an expression of social structure would signify to examine the structure of the space by the influence of the economical and political elements as well as the social practices that derive from these elements. Castells refers to the function of "consumption" in defining urban space because it is organized at higher levels of production. It considers the consumption function to be specific to the city level. In his book "City, Class, Power," he emphasizes that urban problems become increasingly a political problem, caused by the combination of the consumption means with the socialization of the production means. Thus, the urban problems lead to play a strategic role in the course of everyday life. Castells (1997) based on two main reasons for the development of urban contradictions in the developed capitalist societies and their placement at the very center of the social and political sphere. The first is the essential role played by the consumption process in developed capitalism and the second is the expansion of the ideology of the city in a form specific to the dominant classes. State intervention for increased

The integration of safe luxury residential areas and shopping centers, residences and skyscrapers is a reflection of the reproduction of the environment, built by the investments, through the exchange of urban space. Henri Lefebvre, Manuel Castells, and David Harvey, are contemporary urban theoreticians who contribute greatly to finding a solution of today's urban problems. The tools used by these three theoreticians to explain the city are shaped according to the structuralist approaches. It is observed that the three theoreticians regard the processes of capital accumulation, class struggle, and collective consumption as the main starting points to develop an urban approach. Structuralist approaches require in-depth observation and analysis. The theorists concentrate on collective unity rather than individual activity in the light of neutrality and scientific observation. Hence, there is a neo-Marxist perspective when defining the space. According to Harvey, cities that have become part of the capital accumulation process constantly renew themselves as industrial products for urban production, consumption, and change. The way to ensure the economic stability is to direct the capital into the built environment and solve the problem of excessive accumulation (Harvey, 2003). The policy of