Since their emergence, cities have served as the primary units for individual and social interaction. This interaction has led to cities becoming places where social differences most apparent. Inherently, cities epitomize realms characterized by distinctions and divisions. Throughout the course of historical evolution, the social and spatial reflections of these distinctions have consistently manifested within urban landscapes. However, subsequent to the transformative shifts in the economic paradigm on a large scale, commencing with the advent of capitalism during the industrial revolution in Europe and extending through the dissemination of globalization and neoliberal economic policies, social and spatial differentials within cities have become more discernible than ever, evolving into pronounced inequalities.
Cities represent arenas of interaction shaped by both social and spatial components, rendering every alteration imbued with multidimensional ramifications. The global-scale economic paradigm shift has engendered alterations in the social and spatial fabric of cities. Another pivotal factor significantly influencing the social and spatial structure of urban environments is migration. Mass labor migrations, stemming from economic shifts at the national level, alongside forced mass migrations due to conflicts and climatic conditions, have profoundly impacted especially large metropolises.
These urban transformations have also exerted influence on the interaction patterns of societies inhabiting these spaces. The widespread adoption of neoliberal economic policies, particularly since the latter half of the 1970s, has resulted in the relocation of large-scale production and industrial facilities from city centers to peripheries, precipitating a finance and economy-centric metamorphosis in erstwhile industrial settlements. Disparities in wealth have given rise to distinct residential areas within cities, fostering the development of gated communities and slum areas (or immigrant neighborhoods), thereby causing urban dwellers to coexist in the same city while inhabiting disparate locales and adopting dissimilar lifestyles. This spatial shift toward affluence has led to the gradual deprivation of urban services for disadvantaged groups, ultimately excluding them from participation mechanisms within the city. This period also marks the heightened discourse on social problems.
Urban predicaments stemming from these transformations have been conceptualized in various ways by scholars specializing in urban studies. The marginalization of underprivileged groups from the requisite interactions of urban life and exclusion from social activities are encapsulated by the term "social exclusion," initially originating in France and subsequently diffusing across Europe. Social exclusion denotes a process by which individuals, groups, or specific segments of society are restricted from accessing the fundamental functional domains of a society.
The fragmentation and segregation of urban space are encapsulated by the term "urban segregation," a concept pioneered and popularized by the Chicago School in the United States. This concept fundamentally posits that the spatial manifestation of societies with divergent social, economic, and cultural characteristics coexisting in the city is delineated through varied settlement forms with distinct physical attributes. The impacts of this segregation on disparate socioeconomic groups exhibit dissimilarity, wherein individuals from low-income groups find themselves segregated into areas like slums, while those from high-income groups inhabit secured, exclusive luxury sites.
The present inquiry directs its focus toward the concept of "urban isolation," which has evolved as a socio-spatial construct at the intersection of social exclusion and urban segregation. Currently, the element of exclusion, as termed "socio-spatial segregation" in English sources, is discussed in Turkish literature as "socio-spatial separation" through a literal translation. However, the majority of studies conducted in this context predominantly center on the affluent segment constituting the advantaged side of this separation. Although social and spatial segregation is a challenge experienced to a certain degree by every city dweller, the segregation of low-income groups holds qualitative distinctions. This segregation embodies an element of necessity. While studies in Turkish literature acknowledge this necessity, the terminologies employed lack uniformity. Consequently, it is proposed that the social exclusion and spatial segregation experienced by the low-income group be scrutinized under the rubric of "urban isolation," which encapsulates the intersection of these two conceptual frameworks. The concept of urban isolation specifically focuses on the disadvantaged side of social and spatial segregation, diverging from the conceptualization in Turkish literature as social and spatial separation. Hence, it is advocated that the social exclusion and spatial segregation experienced by the low-income group be discussed under the umbrella term of "urban isolation," harmonizing the qualitative nuances of these phenomena.
