Imagining Decent Work towards a Green Future in a Former Forest Village of the City of Istanbul

İklil Selçuk, Zeynep Delen Nircan and Burcu Selcen Coşkun ()
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İklil Selçuk: Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Özyeğin University, 34794 Istanbul, Turkey
Zeynep Delen Nircan: Foundation Development Directorate, Sabanci University, 34956 Istanbul, Turkey
Burcu Selcen Coşkun: Department of Architecture, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, 34427 Istanbul, Turkey

Social Sciences, 2023, vol. 12, issue 6, 1-16

Abstract: This paper addresses issues pertaining to the future of work and sustainability through the lens of a case study of ecological deterioration and how it destroys and creates green jobs in a forest village of Istanbul. As elsewhere in major urban centres of developing countries, the hyper-expansion of city regions due to authoritarian developmentalism fosters the state-led construction sector in Turkey. Growth-driven economic policies continue to have adverse effects on the environment, resulting in deforestation among an array of ecological damage. Based on a qualitative analysis of oral history interviews and observations informed by a larger interdisciplinary research project, we observe resilience in the forest village under scrutiny as certain types of work are abandoned, and new forms are created by adaptation to the ecological and social conditions. The perceptions of changing conditions by locals vary across existing ethnic, gender, and class hierarchies in the local community. Moreover, our findings indicate that the types of work available in the village prior to urban transformation were not all decent or green. In face of ongoing ecological deterioration in a (formerly) forest community, participatory micro-initiatives, and grassroots, utilizing local community projects emerge that nevertheless pursue a green and just transition. We focus on one such initiative, the Community Fungi platform, to demonstrate the possibility of working towards a collective imagination of a green future inspired by past but unforgotten sustainable communal practices, in the context of the forest village under scrutiny in this paper.

Keywords: deforestation; commons; decent work; urban transformation; gated communities; feminisation of labour; green transitions; grassroots micro initiatives (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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