Increasing Role of Services in Competitive Power and Innovativeness of Firms and Industrial Clusters

The aim of this paper is to discuss the importance of different types of global services for industrial firms and clusters in terms of their economic competitiveness and innovative performance. The theoretical debates argue that globalization, deregulation and the new production organization make it necessary to use global services that are supplied easily with the help of new telecommunication technologies. The existing empirical studies provide some supporting evidence. However, they also indicate that global service firms can be attained by only smaller numbers of industrial firms and clusters. Still, in-house services besides temporal and informal mechanisms are important to meet the needs of the specialized services, even for the firms that try to become a part of the global production system. The paper focuses on three main questions: “What types of global services are becoming crucial for manufacturing firms and what type of services are still local and national? Is there a significant difference between the characteristics of firms that use the same type of services? To what extent is having access to global services important for the innovativeness of industrial firms and clusters? This paper looks for the answers to these questions based on existing case studies as well as this study of three industrial clusters in Turkey. The findings indicate that there is not a perfect match between theory and empirical evidence and there is a need for more refined theoretical discourses on industry–service relations.     

Hub Location Problem with Allowed Routing between Nonhub Nodes

In this study, we relax one of the general assumptions in the hub location literature by allowing routed flows between nonhub nodes. In hub networks, different flows are consolidated and routed via collection, interhub, and distribution arcs. Due to consolidation, some flows travel long paths despite closeness of their origin and destination. In this study, we allow direct flows by penalizing by a scalar factor of original cost of transshipment between these arcs. We present mathematical models for median, center, and set covering versions of the problem for single‐ and multi‐allocation cases. We test the models with the CAB and TR data sets. We discuss the properties of established direct connections for different models by using another mathematical model where the number of direct flows is bounded and interpret the effect of changes in problem parameters.     

Religious Conversion in Early Post-Ottoman Bulgaria: A Case Study of Ruse

Under Ottoman rule, conversion to Islam took place in the Balkans in various forms often described as forced, voluntary or “conversion for convenience.” Islamic law, however, strictly forbade apostasy for Muslims, who risked the death penalty. Although the Ottoman reform of 1844 banned the execution of apostates from Islam and that of 1856 declared freedom of religion, Muslim conversion was carried out discreetly. In 1878, the establishment of the Bulgarian nation-state paved the way for potential conversion from Islam to Christianity. This study examines the conversion of Muslims, Catholics, and to a lesser extent, Jews, to Bulgarian Orthodoxy and Protestantism in the city of Ruse. It shows that apostasy was a result of a complex interplay of loyalties, political dynamics, and self-interests rather than purely religious principles. Specifically, it argues that Muslims and, to a lesser extent, Jews, perceived conversion as a way of developing a Bulgarian identity, whereas Catholic conversion to Orthodoxy was mostly marriage-based and did not necessarily entail an intention to achieve a Bulgarian national identity. Moreover, the way that the Bulgarian Church processed the petitions shows a continuity from the practices that the Ottomans used when Christians and Jews converted to Islam during the Tanzimat Era.     

Turkish nationalism and the evolutionary idea (1923–1938)

This paper sheds light on the role of evolutionary ideas in the making of Turkish nationalism during the Kemalist era (1923–1938). By so doing, it aims to challenge some of the dominant historiographical viewpoints as to the nature of Turkish nationalism. One is related to the Kemalist elites' predisposition towards the so‐called “scientism” seen as one of the bases for nationalism. We intend to turn upside–down the relation between the Kemalists' use of science and Turkish nationalism. Second, we problematize the “culturalist” origins of Turkish nationalism arguing that the seemingly “culturalist” reflections of the time were, indeed, materialist formulations based on the science of the times. We discuss in this respect the Kemalist elites' use of evolutionary ideas. By synthesizing the ways in which these elites employed evolutionary ideas in the fields of history, language, geography, anthropology, biology, eugenics, and pedagogy, we aim to understand the specific nature of Turkish nationalism before 1945. This secular nationalism conceived culture as having materialist bases and differed fundamentally from the culturalist varieties of Turkish nationalism coloured by Islam in the post‐1945 era. Furthermore, the paper empirically enriches the complex and entangled story of evolutionary ideas in the early Turkish Republic.     

Architectural Discourse and Social Transformation During the Early Neolithic of Southeast Anatolia

Within the Near Eastern research canon, the transition to more sedentary lifestyles during the Neolithic is often framed as an economic necessity, linked to plant and animal domestication, climatic change and population stress. In such a framework, an increasingly complex social structure, arising in response to the increasingly complex relations of agricultural production, is presumed. For example, some researchers would argue that feasting-based rituals became an arena of social control and an increasingly complex society began to emerge around ritual leadership and monumental ritual architecture. Yet the research projects conducted at many Near Eastern sites indicate neither that sedentism can be directly linked to the requirements of agriculture, nor that the presence of monumental architecture can be successfully associated with social control based on unequal redistribution of agricultural surplus. While ritual activity appears to be central during the Neolithic, two important questions remain to be explored: (1) what exactly did the rituals control, given that the societies under consideration are commonly perceived to have an ‘egalitarian’ ethos?; and (2) what happened to the ritual control in the second half of the PPNB, when ritual architecture completely disappears from the archaeological record at a time of increased reliance on agriculture? Through a critical review of the use of terms like ‘sedentism’, ‘egalitarianism’ and ‘ritual’, I argue that the architecture of the Early Neolithic is related to the management of social relationships through symbolic place-making activities. Based on a comparative review of burial activity, building continuity and the use of symbolic imagery, I examine the symbolic construction of some of the earliest examples of long-term occupational focus in southeast Anatolia, such as Hallan Çemi, Demirköy, Körtik Tepe, Hasankeyf Höyük, Gusir Höyük, Göbekli Tepe, Çayönü and Neval? Çori, in an attempt to understand the social factors behind the emergence and demise of Early Neolithic monumental architecture. The evidence from the above-mentioned sites suggests that Early Neolithic place-making reflects community formation at a variety of scales, at the center of which lay the continuous reinvention of kinship concepts. While some sites, with concentrations of burials, may have become the locus for construction of more intimate local place-based networks, other sites, such as Göbekli Tepe, may have integrated the extended networks. Arguably, the formation of large scale networks during the PPNA posed a threat to local groups. Thus, a focus on local group formation and close control of social exchanges may have begun during the early PPNB, and the places such as Göbekli Tepe may have fallen out of use during this process. In the context of the symbolism and figurine evidence, I further argue that sex and gender may have become important issues, both in the formation of place-communities during the late PPNA—early PPNB, and in the emergence of autonomous households during the later PPNB.     

The Role of Government Policies and Strategies Behind the Shrinking Urban Core in an Expanding City Region: The Case of Izmir

Over the last few decades, the term urban shrinkage has come to be accepted as a valid concept in international academic circles, and has gradually gained importance, with its causes the subject of well-documented discussion. While previous discussions of urban shrinkage have directed attention to cities shrinking as a whole, recent research started to recognize the case of shrinkage in growing cities and regions. As such, recent discussions of urban shrinkage indicate that patterns of shrinkage vary considerably from city to city, and from sub-region to sub-region, with the importance of local dynamics in responding to changing economic pressures given much consideration. Recent studies have tended to disregard the role of government policies and strategies put in place to facilitate the adaptation of the urban economies to the new conditions. Taking Izmir as an example, being a fast-growing metropolitan region in Turkey, this paper presents evidence of government policies and strategies aimed at enhancing the development of peripheral areas that have led to shrinkage of the metropolitan core. This paper focuses on this experience and discusses its implications.     

Changes in Land-Use Preferences of Small-, Medium- and Large-Scale Industries Located in Metropolitan Areas (Case Study in Istanbul)

In metropolitan areas, the changing spatial land-use preferences of the industrial sector are the most important determinants in the forming of the macro-form. Metropolitan areas, especially in developing European and Asian countries, become troubled cities with agglomerations of population and investment as a result of failures to apply satisfactory macro-policies and plans throughout the country. Industrial investments on various scales and the land-use preferences of investors have changed over time. The land preferences of production and headquarters of the manufacturing sectors have become basic determinants in the formation of settlement systems due to the transformations that occur alongside technological, economic and social development. This article examines whether or not the basic land-use criterion of the manufacturing sector changes in small-, medium- and large-scale businesses according to their labour structure, defined through an examination of the sectoral structure and relations of scale. Taking the increasing rate of the Gross National Product of the industrial sector in metropolitan areas in every country into account, and examining the land-use preferences of various industrial sub-sectors and scales will serve as an important input when making new planning decisions. The industrial land-use criterion will be effective in the transformation, reorganization or directing of new focuses for the agglomerated industrial structure, especially in Istanbul, which features both Asian and European metropolitan area characteristics. This article will define the existing industrial structure of the Istanbul metropolitan area; and differences between the various scales of land-use preferences within industrial investments will be presented, based on the findings of two investigations carried out over a 5-year period. Several important criteria for industrial investors seeking to establish themselves in metropolitan areas will be determined in the article.     

Growth estimations in settlement planning using a land use cellular automata model (LUCAM)

This article describes the main features of a Land Use Cellular Automata Model (LUCAM) developed within the scope a Ph.D. thesis by using both physical and socio‐economic data and on the basis of the relationships between the smallest cellular function and other functions that vary according to the fractal structure of settlements. An assessment of the research findings is also included. The article has five sections: Following the introduction, the evolution of land use models, in particular Cellular Automata (CA) based land use models, is described. Then, the main features of LUCAM are presented, and the basics of the criteria used in determining the model parameters is described. The model developed, which can easily be used in computer environments, aims to minimize the calculation time in growth estimation processes, and thus become a widely used tool. In this article, the model was applied to the settlement of Bursa (Turkey), and the results obtained were assessed. The conclusion section offers general guidelines on the use of the model and discusses the advantages of employing the model in CA based studies that are likely to emerge in the future.     

Determining suitable investment areas using multi‐variable statistical methods: evidence from the Black Sea region in Turkey

Investment is an important decision for economic development, balanced growth and public welfare. There are many factors influencing investment. Thus, investment must be evaluated with multidimensional methods. Using taxonomy and principal component analysis this study attempts to determine appropriate investment areas in planned provinces in the Black Sea Region. Analyses were based on a number of demographic, economic, health, education, employment and cultural indicators. Results indicated that provinces were grouped into four clusters. Gümü?hane and Bayburt were determined to have the highest priority for investment in the manufacturing industry.     

Not Only Helpless but also Hopeless: Changing Dynamics of Urban Poverty in Turkey,the Case of Sultanbeyli,Istanbul

This paper is an attempt to understand the changing characteristics of urban poverty in Turkey since 1980. First, it analyses how the urban poor in Turkey had adopted aggressive survival strategies by strengthening their solidarity networks on religious, ethnic and cultural bases until the 2000s. Then it sheds light on how those networks have dissolved later on thanks to a set of internal and external factors and concludes that Turkey now faces deepening poverty levels and engendering new forms and dynamics of poverty. This paper is based on the Sultanbeyli district of Istanbul, a district almost entirely composed of unauthorized houses whose population grew at an unprecedented rate after 1980; and it is a perfect case for the study of issues relating to migration, urbanization and poverty in Turkish cities.