Transformation In Istanbul Research Articles

Multi-Objective Analysis of Housing Transformation in Istanbul

Multi-Objective Analysis of Housing Transformation in Istanbul

Earthquake, disaster capitalism and massive urban transformation in Istanbul

AbstractIn this paper, I discuss how the earthquake risk is exploited by ‘disaster capitalism’, in order to convert Istanbul to a massive construction site. The shock of the 1999 Marmara Earthquake has been effectively used by the neoliberal market and government as ‘a shock therapy’ to implement a construction‐led development model for Turkey and to favour the construction sector by introducing new incentives, exceptional rights and interventions, which otherwise might be challenged. The current Turkish government justify the ongoing massive urban transformation and new mass housing projects as an improvement of the housing stock to make residential buildings stronger and more resilient to earthquakes. However, areas actually under earthquake risk do not match the areas that are officially declared under disaster risk by the government. The Disaster Law #6306 that granted the government the absolute right to expropriate land based on the justification of ‘protecting residents against earthquakes and other natural disasters’ was applied in a selective way to seize valuable land in Istanbul. In the paper I explore how the disaster was quickly converted to an opportunity for economic growth. To do that I introduce stories of three different neighbourhoods in Istanbul, namely Moda, Tozkoparan and Fikirtepe, each of which experience the ongoing massive urban transformation differently based on the land value of the neighbourhoods, class position of the residents, and residents' capacity to organise in order to protect their rights. I describe, how disaster capitalism is lived and experienced differently in these three neighbourhoods. Although the massive construction projects are indifferent to life's sustainability, those projects are justified as interventions in terms of public health and safety through making housing resilient to earthquakes. I critically discuss how in each case biopolitics presents disaster capitalism's massive urban transformation projects as a manifestation of liveliness.

The Cultural Heritage of the White Russian Emigration in Istanbul

The civil war in Russia caused one and a half million people to leave their homeland. The most massive exodus from Russia was across the Black Sea. Istanbul (at that time Constantinople) became almost the only possible port of destination for dozens of overloaded ships. From 1919 to 1921, the city sheltered about 200,000 civil and military refugees. Consequently, it became a very special, iconic place of memory in the history of the first wave of Russian emigration. Some White Russians immigrated to other countries immediately, others left as soon as they got their visas, and the rest – years later. In this respect, Istanbul forever acquired the status of the first vital point of the “dispersal” of Russian white emigrants to all corners of the world. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the social and cultural life of the Russian civilians who took refuge in Istanbul from 1919 to 1930. Emphasis is placed on their self-organization and diligence in the arrangement of their new life according to their cultural traditions. Attention is paid to the changes they brought to the city’s life, such as the opening of many offices, trade, and entertainment establishments. The transformation of Istanbul into a motley center of Russian culture is discussed. A series of artistic events, such as Russian ballet, operetta, and concerts, were often attended by residents of Istanbul, who admired the musical and artistic talent of the Russians. The reader is informed about the activities of film actors, artists, and writers, who, by the whims of fate, found themselves here. The life and work of creative individuals who chose Turkey as their second homeland is emphasized. Revealing the contribution of Russian refugees to the cultural enrichment of Istanbul, it is concluded that as a result of their stay in the 1920s, Istanbul became irreversibly connected with the West. Publications of that period, state and private archives (such as press archives and archives of the Russian associations operating in Istanbul), and the memoirs of dozens of White Russians served as the main sources of the research.

Urban elite on the fringes of the growth coalition: homeowners’ selective opposition to urban transformation in Istanbul

This research is an examination of the role of the urban elite in an earthquake risk-driven urban transformation process in Istanbul, Turkey. By displaying the mechanisms through which urban transformation in Istanbul’s privileged areas is invited and implemented by the urban elite that I locate on the fringes of the growth machine, this research contributes to the literature on urban growth, and specifically the role of the urban elite in this growth coalition. This article displays the urban elite’s ambivalent approach, which I describe as selective opposition: simultaneously occurring growth-controlling discourses and growth-engaging activities by affluent residents, who are neither fully members nor opponents of the growth coalition and who critique growth politics from which they accumulate wealth. This research displays the mechanisms through which the urban elite reproduce their power, privilege, and wealth, and hence sheds light on the processes of inequality reproduction and affluence maintenance.

Life Cycle Assessment with BIM Towards Sustainable Energy Policy-Making: The Case of Urban Transformation in Istanbul

Buildings are responsible for almost forty percent of global energy. Due to their high consumption of energy, buildings are on the front line of sustainability researches. In Turkey, six million out of twenty-two million buildings need to be demolished and rebuilt to meet seismic standards. These buildings are also far below the standards in terms of energy efficiency. Therefore, urban transformation can be thought of as a great opportunity for energy efficiency. This study investigates four things: (i) the energy-efficient urban transformation strategy in Gaziosmanpaşa-Istanbul region, which is selected as a case study; (ii) the effect of energy efficiency in this market; (iii) the adequacy of energy standards of Turkey; and (iv) contribution of digitalization in construction to sustainability with Building Information Modelling (BIM) and energy analysis. According to the energy efficiency scenarios, energy analyses were carried out on the BIM model. The most cost-effective strategy was determined with the Life Cycle Cost method. When compared with the current situation, it is possible to save energy up to 227 GWh a year, which is equal to the annual heating energy demand of approximately 30,000 housing, in the case study area with the most efficient scenario to be realized.

The proliferation of alternative film exhibition spaces in Istanbul: cultural segregation and urban cinephilia

In the last decade, Istanbul witnessed the rapid proliferation of alternative film exhibition spaces such as museums, cafes, art and cultural centres in specific neighbourhoods. This increase is a result of mostly three forces: the monopoly of dominant distribution companies, authoritarian pressure of the government and urban transformation in Istanbul. These places provide space for censored films and are essentially important for independent and experimental films as well as documentaries and short films which have very limited or no theatrical release. On the other hand, their concentration in specific districts and that they target the audience with certain cultural capital is aggregate hierarchical clusters. Through analysing these alternative exhibition spaces in Istanbul, this study investigates the changing relationship between film exhibition, audience and the city. It discovers how urban transformation, authoritarian cultural policies and economic capital changed cinema-going and urban cinephilia in Istanbul. It suggests that while these alternative film exhibiton venues provide space for independent filmmakers, festivals and censored films, they also articulate to social hierarchy and cultural segregation.

Perceiving Urban Transformation from the Perspective of Evolutionary Economics: Renewal of Houses in Bağdat Street, Istanbul

:In this article, we analyze urban transformation in Istanbul using the concepts of evolutionary economics and show that it is a process driven by people’s desire to climb the social hierarchy through “costly signaling,” or conspicuous consumption, rather than by a desire to improve the functional quality of their living spaces. To understand the main motivation behind people’s demand for urban transformation, we conducted in-depth interviews with residents and observed that they endorse the process because it generates extensive costs, waste, and a decrease in the quality of life that can only be afforded by the wealthy, who thereby differentiate themselves from the less well-off. We argue that this is different from consumption decisions motivated solely by benefit maximization¬—a concept that is independent from the social context¬—and therefore can only be understood via evolutionary economics.

AN OVERVIEW OF URBAN CHANGE PROCESS IN ISTANBUL METROPOLIS

At every stage of human history, people migrate by force or by their own will. Both forced and willing migrations are caused by wars, poverty and a higher expectation for better living standards, employment, residence, social status, quality life, education, and others. In Turkey, migration from rural to urban areas that took place between the 1950s and 1980s has caused millions of people to migrate to cosmopolitan cities, like Istanbul. One of the main reasons for immigration to the city was due to the quality of life in the city and rural areas. This geographically displaced process of millions of people has influenced economic, social and cultural change and transformation in both the city and the village. Migrants often migrate to cities without proper knowledge, skills, and expertise, which significantly affect their economic, social and cultural status in the city where they have moved. For this reason, immigrants usually use their own integration strategies. Most of the migrants could not adapt to the rapid life of the metropolis, so they preferred to live in shanties by isolating themselves from metropolitan life, which became one of the major urban problems. The Urban regeneration process, which entered our life rapidly as a result of the great earthquake that occurred in 1999, led to rapid changes in both the social and physical space and even the transformation in Istanbul. Thus, this study aims to analyze the physical, spatial and social changes in the urban regeneration process of the regions where the first shanty was established in Istanbul. An assessment of this shanty in Istanbul is significant because it received the biggest number of migrants between the 1950s and 1980s. Consequently, urban, economic, social and cultural effects of these changes continue to shape present-day Istanbul’s urban system and urban identity.

Neighbourhood Patterns in Istanbul: From Historical Form to Manhattanization

During the last century, the transformation of Istanbul’s urban structure from monocentric to multi-centric and its rapid population growth resulted in neighborhood patterns which are spread across a large spectrum according to their location and their cultural, socio-economic and historical backgrounds. In urban settings, the potential environment is reinterpreted by its users, and is realized through the application of the space and time-specific societal norms within the context of technological advances. The present study investigates the selected neighborhood patterns from historical to westernized, modern, post-modern (gated) and Manhattanized forms. According to the results of the study, although some of the historical, westernized and modern neighborhoods have been preserved to a large extent, the haphazard development of high-rise residential buildings has caused traffic congestion, pollution, an increased income gap and changes in land values, and has thus produced functional transformations in their immediate surroundings. In addition, this unnecessary increase in housing density is not only harmful for the city’s famous silhouette but also for its traditional neighborhood relationships. In order to allow a physically, economically and socially more balanced development of the city, it is necessary to control its growth and follow a system of planned development which is not solely for the benefit of real estate investors. It is hoped that the results of the study will be useful for the urban and regional planners, policy makers and investors.

When the railway reached Istanbul: the making of Sirkeci terminus, 1870–1888

ABSTRACTSince its establishment as a capital city, the historical topography of Istanbul has witnessed significant changes, created not only by devastating earthquakes and fires, but also by the implementation of large-scale imperial projects. In the existing literature, the transformation of Istanbul’s urban area in the nineteenth century has largely explored the topics of new urban regulations, institutions and their implication after the Tanzimat (reform) decree of 1839. This article aims to explore a lesser-known dimension of nineteenth-century developments of the city: the extension of the railway into the heart of Istanbul’s historical peninsula, and the spatial change around the Sirkeci district due to the physical expansion of the terminus area. The construction of a larger terminus (inaugurated in 1890) is relatively well documented in architectural history, yet developments prior to this monumental construction have been less explored so far. Thus, this article also aims to investigate the project’s development and implementation phases in the second half of the nineteenth century, when the city witnessed continuous urban reformation processes by focusing on the intertwined relations of different agents in the urban space.

Urban Transformations In İstanbul During The Term Of Mayor Cemil Topuzlu

This article examines the impact of urban transformation and development policies of Mayor Cemil Topuzlu in Istanbul. Topuzlu served two terms as mayor of Istanbul. His first term was on the eve of World War I. His second term coincided with the last year of Turkish War of Independence. These were times when the Ottoman Empire experienced financial crisis as a consequence of wars it fought and the losses it suffered. Despite this unfavourable background, Topuzlu’s policies played an important part in the transformation of Istanbul. Topuzlu stayed in Paris as a student of medicine and had already been impressed by urban development projects he witnessed during his stay. When he became mayor, he set out to transform Istanbul into a “European” city. He started wide-ranging expropriation, demolition and development projects. His policies, which were based on “imported” concepts caused controversy and attracted criticism from public and intellectuals of the time. In this article, examples of debate and criticism are quoted from newspapers and other publications of the time. Also, the impact of his transformation policies on the historical and traditional fabric is investigated.

The limits of growth: A case study of three mega-projects in Istanbul

This article attempts to identify and analyse the dynamics and mechanisms of urban transformation in Istanbul using the case study of three mega-projects currently underway - the Third Bridge (officially named Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge), the Third Airport, and Kanal Istanbul. Connected via the Northern Marmara Motorway, these independent projects could also be perceived as parts of a big mega-project - shaping a new city in the north of Istanbul. Triggered by goals defined by the national development document “Vision 2023”, and supported by the intensified construction industry, rapid urban growth multiplies a number of challenges and discrepancies between the official vision of progress and professional estimations of its possible outcomes. Consequently, the article gives an insight into the contextual background of the selected projects and the mechanisms of their implementation, whilst focusing on three fields of estimated impacts (urban structure, environment/ecology and community). The mega projects are identified as strategic instruments and agents of change in achieving the anticipated vision of growth, whilst the low level of their general sustainability represents one of the main concerns and drawbacks in both public and professional acceptance of them.

Urban transformation in Istanbul and Budapest: Neoliberal governmentality in the EU's semi-periphery and its limits

By discussing the variety and variability of urban neoliberal governmentality and its limits in the semi-periphery of the advanced capitalist world, the article aims to explore the embeddedness of neoliberalism at the dawn of the new millennium. Cities that are increasingly becoming parts of the global economy, despite being on the periphery of advanced capitalism, host a myriad of diverse forms of neoliberal governmentality in terms of spatial change. Although responding with enthusiasm to the increasing mobility of capital and the internationalization of investments through gentrification plans, the current transformative efforts of Istanbul and Budapest under two conservative governments indicate, for instance, the re-invention of authoritarianism so that these cities serve the purposes of their national leaders. This development signals a hybrid form of governmentality that combines neoliberalism with illiberal logics and manifests similar processes in different locations despite disparities in scale, local needs and characteristics. The article further argues that since such urban transformations take place within the neo-conservative leaders' battles to acquire cultural and social capital, they create potential to make both metropolises the new rebel cities of Europe, albeit with divergent levels of resistance.

Insurmountable Tension? On the Relation of World Heritage and Rapid Urban Transformation in Istanbul

This article gives an overview of the heritage management system in Turkey with a special focus on Istanbul. Referring to relevant works on this subject from the past few years, I want to illustrate the powerful role of the Turkish state and other important actors in the transformation of cultural heritage areas. Through a discussion of examples drawn from my own research in Istanbul, I review the label of UNESCO World Heritage and its potential to protect cultural heritage from inappropriate interventions and developments. The World Heritage Committee and people working in the field of heritage preservation often highlight structural deficits in the Turkish management system. Instead, I argue that seemingly inadequate conservation practices can also be interpreted as an integral part of the management system which allows for a combination of heritage preservation and urban transformation. A multi-faceted management structure pleases international organizations and investors, while ambiguous responsibilities hinder the formation of an effective opposition against urban transformation projects in historic neighbourhoods.

How Globalization Really Happens: Remembering Activism in the Transformation of Istanbul

AbstractOver the past 20 years it has become accepted wisdom that Istanbul has become a ‘global city', transformed in tandem with a raft of neoliberal economic policies. What is the relevant history of this globalization? A muted local knowledge possessed by Istanbul's inhabitants is that the military coup in 1980 was the crucial event in the re‐engineering of the city. Yet exactly here a contradiction emerges: despite this acknowledgement, there is apparently little public memory about what it was like to study, work and agitate in Istanbul in the ‘crisis' years before the coup. Based on extensive interviews with people active in political fractions in the late 1970s, this article privileges a phenomenological approach to identify spatial practices, performances and perceptions of activists that generated and structured Istanbul's expanding urban environment in that period. Further, it shows how this history is relevant for comprehending both the ‘micro‐causes' of the coup as well as important dimensions of Turkish politics in the present, each of which cast illuminating light on Istanbul's experience of globalization.

Neoliberalization of Istanbul's Nightlife: Beer or Champagne?

AbstractThis article shows how the transformation of Istanbul's entertainment industry and of Beyoğlu, Istanbul's oldest, largest and the most diverse entertainment district, represents and reproduces spatial and economic divisions in the city. We argue that these differences also become compounded and intertwined with distinctions in consumption and taste. Taking a simultaneous look at the spatial, economic and symbolic transformations of the entertainment industry enables us to understand how and why these intense divisions emerge, and what kind of contestations, rationalizations and resistance strategies are at work in this transformation. A major contribution of this article is to document and discuss the political economy of the process of urban transformation in the city through the lens of the entertainment industry, providing an interesting case of ‘neoliberalism on the ground'. Examining the neoliberalization of nightlife in a relatively understudied context, Istanbul, also reveals that its segmentation and spatial inequality are not just determined by political economy but are also constitutive of it. By adding the concept of ‘image consumption' and taste distinctions into the analysis, the article also uncovers the symbolic nature of the ongoing transformations. Finally, exploring Beyoğlu as a district in transition with persistent contestations contributes, in turn, to the right to the city debate.

Cultures of assemblage, resituating urban theory: A response to the papers on ‘Assembling Istanbul’

The articles in this special issue extend research on urban space and politics in Istanbul with approaches that explorate the relationships between urban form, urban change, and political processes as assemblages of things, beliefs, institutions, and landscapes. They share a commitment to extended ethnography and thick description in urban studies, and contribute to research that destabilizes universalizing urban theory produced in Europe and America. The dramatic state-led project of neoliberal urban transformation in Istanbul has generated an important body of work that focuses on the consequences of creative destruction, urban displacement, and urban social and political exclusion. These papers contribute to that research with additional questions that incorporate understudied material and cultural elements of the urban political economy. What role do material elements (concrete, plexiglass, signs, maps) play in the practices that propel urban dynamics: that justify, for example, the rebuilding of some properties and the destruction of others? How do the subjective dimensions of human life (memory, belief, emotion, art, suspicion, and imagination) propel particular forms of urban development? Istanbulites' theories of why, where, and to whom destruction or fortune happens – and of what particular material things mean, or what they're meant to be used for – are crucial elements of the total urban situation. Istanbulites' theories cohere disparate elements into assemblages which, in turn, work to transform the city's material realities and social worlds. These papers invite us, as scholars, to resituate our urban theories and to bring urban residents' theories into assemblage with our own.

Differentiated Urban Citizenship and Housing Rights: Analysing the Social Impacts of Urban Redevelopment in Globalizing Istanbul

There is growing interest in the transformation of urban citizenship and the changing right to the city of the urban poor under neoliberal restructuring of cities in the Global South. This article examines a ‘squatter settlement transformation project’ in Istanbul that is intended to contribute towards the transformation of Istanbul into a global city. The transformation projects are based on private homeownership, incorporate the urban poor into a new ‘property regime’ and allocate them differentiated access to housing in the city. Using qualitative data, this article traces the unequal outcomes of the project for its displaced residents and demonstrates the emergence of ‘differentiated urban citizenship’. This emergent urban citizenship regime in Turkish cities organizes the distribution of substantive housing rights based on social inequalities among the urban poor, and thus consolidates and perpetuates these inequalities in society.

Citizenship, minorities and the struggle for a right to the city in Istanbul

Globalization is generating new forms of citizenship that often go beyond the institutional perception of social identity. These new forms of citizenship are developed in a scalable way to a greater extent than rights and obligations, and are entirely managed by the citizens themselves. To demonstrate empirical support for this issue, the case of minority communities in Turkey constitutes one of the most relevant examples, since citizenship in this country has long been associated with an idea of political loyalty and total allegiance to the nation-state. The main purpose of this article is to show how urban space and urban protest allow minorities to find alternative forms of expression for their collective identity, and to create a new understanding of citizenship beyond the classical definition, being based instead on institutional representation. The aim of this research is to examine the process of urban transformation in Istanbul, how this phenomenon shapes the structure of cities and how it gives rise to social resistance and protest, especially in neighborhoods housing minority communities. In this context, the article focuses on planning movements in Turkey through a comparative study of two urban planning projects and the citizens' protests against them.

RE-EXPLORING LATE OTTOMAN BUILDINGS IN TODAY'S ISTANBUL

The late-Ottoman early-Republican period had delineated a unique, heterogeneous stage in the course of Istanbul’s transformation into a modern city. Istanbul at the turn of the 19th century, exhibited a setting under influence of political, ideological, historical, cultural and social factors. The active, long settlement history, imperial heritage, urban texture, cosmopolitan social structure, metropolitan growth, westernization, nationalism, demands of contemporary city life, the modern integrating with the existent local were among them. In this study, architecture of the late-Ottoman Istanbul will be explored through selected buildings that reflected the architectural/urban development of their time, held significance in terms of function, form/style, technology and urban features, represented leading architects’ work, specific trends, and marked strategic locations. Consecutive part of the study will cover a re-exploration of these buildings in their current condition, after a century has passed since they were constructed. Such a comparison, besides providing a record of urban transformation in Istanbul, discloses different faces of the encounter with globalization, and points to contemporary local and global architectural problems of the metropolis in general.