Research Assistant. Assist. Gökçe Uzgören presented the findings of her research project titled "Regulating Short-Term Rentals: A Comparative Study on the Effect of Airbnb on the Housing Sector in Istanbul and Dublin". The findings of the project are as follows;
*Dublin is a city that has taken measures to prevent damage to the housing market by introducing legal and administrative regulations to the commercialization and professionalization process of Airbnb, such as short-term accommodation platforms (Dublin City Council "Short-term Letting Regulation", 2019). However, although Istanbul, an important destination in terms of tourism, is one of the prominent cities in the use of Airbnb, there is no legal regulation for short-term rentals (STL) by the government or local authorities, except for rental income tax. However, preliminary research in Istanbul has revealed that Airbnb usage tends to be commercialized and professionalized.
*This tendency towards commercialization and professionalization is associated with a process that David and Marcuse (2021: 31) define as hyper-metalization. This definition emphasizes how housing is used in cycles of accumulation beyond its primary function of shelter. The fact that housing has been brought into the market cycle represents a key point at which the conflict over the question of whether housing should be considered as a fundamental right or as a means of investment intensifies.
*In the context of Airbnb, this trend of commercialization and professionalization is embodied in the following ways: (i) the increasing number of Airbnb hosts listing multiple homes on the platform, (ii) the fact that homes are often rented as "whole house/apartments" rather than private rooms or shared rooms, and (iii) Airbnb's recent practices of promoting standardization and professionalization on the platform.
Research Assistant. Gökçe Uzgören for her presentation and we wish her continued success.
