A Spatial Criticism in Terms of Marxist Geography: The Case of Ağrı City

The reflections of Marxism, which emerged in the first half of the 19th century, on the science of geography and the formation of a sub-field called Marxist geography, dates back to the 1970s, especially with the impact of the humanist revolution. Geographers, who brought together geography and Marxism, put forward the understanding of space based on political economy. From this point of view, it can be stated that Marxist geographers, who deal with space and time together with society, in a sense spatialize Marxism. It is known that Marx and Engels stated that the city is in a mutual transformation relationship with capitalism and that capitalism affects and transforms the city and the city affects and transforms capitalism. Marxist geographers, who think that they see the city as the space of surplus product in the context of class consciousness and class struggle, approach the space with intense criticism in economic and political terms. 

In this research, the city of Ağrı has been evaluated according to the contemporary urban theories of Marxist geography. The purpose of the research was to make a critical evaluation of urbanization according to the Marxist geography perspective and David Harvey’s urban theory in spatial understanding of the city of Ağrı and to propose various alternative settlements. In the research, the case study method which is one of the qualitative researches, was used.

Some findings were obtained with the method of travel and observation in the research area. With the findings obtained in the research, the city of Ağrı was evaluated with a neo-Marxist and critical perspective. As a result, in recent years, it has been observed that in order to obtain the highest efficiency from the land throughout the city, the capital has placed the houses in an order that can be considered adjacent, without landscaping, without gardens and green areas where people can spend time in the daily sense, without parking lot, and shaped the city without the privacy of the side dwellings. When the city of Ağrı is looked at from a Neo-Marxist perspective, it is seen that a structuring called a dormitory city, which is narrow, developed in contradiction to human nature, detached from nature with excessive concretion, lacks many equipment, and an urban culture could not be formed.

Cite this article as: Kayserili, A., & Baltuk, M. (2022). A spatial criticism in terms of Marxist Geography: The case of Ağrı City. Eastern Geographical Review, 27(47), 28-40.