This paper explores the process of waiting in temporalities of gentrification in the case of Ballıkuyu neighborhood. For Ballıkuyu, which is one of the oldest districts at the center of Izmir, Turkey, local authorities portrayed a shiny future with a regeneration and development plan that they announced in 2014. Since then, oscillating between hope and despair, the residents of the neighborhood have been waiting for the implementation of this plan, under the pressure of displacement due to both gentrification and the gradual decay of their built environment. With a longitudinal research conducted between 2014 and 2021, this paper aims to get insights into the use of this process as a strategy by local authorities, into its effects on socio-spatial integrity of the built environment and into the potentials that it may hold for the residents. The research methodology depends on semi-structured interviews and site observations that expand over this time period, and integrated with the content analysis of social media posts and news on local newspapers. The study concludes that even though the prolonged waiting process weakens the residents’ sense of agency, place attachment and energy for collective resistance, it is not a stagnant situation, but an active condition which perpetually compels the residents to develop new social and spatial tactics not only for solidarity and better communication, but also for re-appropriating a more livable environment.

本文探讨了在 Ballıkuyu 社区案例中高档化的时间等待过程。Ballıkuyu 是土耳其伊兹密尔市中心最古老的地区之一，当地政府通过 2014 年宣布的再生和发展计划描绘了一个光明的未来。从那时起，该社区的居民在希望和绝望之间摇摆不定由于高档化和建筑环境的逐渐衰退，他们一直在等待这个计划的实施。通过在 2014 年至 2021 年间进行的纵向研究，本文旨在深入了解地方当局将这一过程作为一项战略的用途、其对建筑环境的社会空间完整性的影响以及它可能具有的潜力居民。研究方法依赖于在此期间扩展的半结构化访谈和现场观察，并与社交媒体帖子和当地报纸新闻的内容分析相结合。研究得出结论，尽管漫长的等待过程削弱了居民的主体意识、地方依恋和集体抵抗的能量，但这并不是一种停滞状态，而是一种不断迫使居民发展新的社会和空间策略的积极状态。不仅是为了团结和更好的沟通，也是为了重新占用一个更宜居的环境。