ABSTRACT
Sport has received an increasing amount of attention in Turkey’s developmental actions throughout the 21st century. Since its re-establishment in 2011, the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MYS) has invested in infrastructure and institutional developments, such as hosting international sport competitions and investing in athlete development. Together with 32 football stadiums and 2,000 neighbourhood-type sport fields, the MYS has built over 300 youth centres across the country since 2012. Although this has increased participation in sport competitions in Turkey, the low figures of youth participation in sport activities lead us to question the legacy of sport for development investments in Turkey. The youth centres, for instance, can be defined as one of the major initiatives of the Turkish government aiming to contribute to community sport participation. Using Lefebvre’s theoretical toolbox on the production of space, our analyses of qualitative research conducted in three youth centres provide insights on the government’s neoconservative and sport-related objectives and the actual outcomes. Our findings suggest that the youth centres face the risk of unsustainability due to their physical distance from disadvantaged communities, lack of personnel and inconclusive vision to implement long-term community transformingprograms for young people.
