Alpullu Sugar Factory and Workers' Houses

Abstract

This article examines the first modern idea experience, which is often discussed over the Early Republican period on industrial settlements and workers' residences, in the context of the Alpullu Sugar Factory Worker's Houses that were established in the rural part of the Thrace region in the 1920s, and investigates the effects of spatial and social change on the modernization process of the settlement. It is thought that the discourse of modernization in the early Republican period includes changes that affect spatial and social identity beyond a politically new structuring feature. Throughout the period, the construction of new building types, the shaping of living habits and the formation of modern identity are effective. In this context, the industrial settlements in which the state solves the economic and social / cultural development goals together contribute to the renewal of the spatial and social structure in many cities of Anatolia. The Alpullu Sugar Factory is important because it is one of the first factories that the Republic of Turkey realized for this purpose. In the study, on-site observations were made at the factory and information was obtained from the factory archive and employees. As a result, modern identity has been created with the services provided by the factory for employment, accommodation, education and social purposes. In particular, the laborers' houses and the social structures around them have led to the development of the city and the transformation of the society, with the spatial and fictional differences that they emerge