”İstanbul Kent Araştırmaları” (İstanbul Urban Studies) seminar series organized by Department of Urban and Regional Planning from Istanbul Medeniyet University, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture hosted 26 seminars in 2021. The seminars were organized as two separated series (quarterly periods) weekly and online.
27 researchers from 8 different professions and 17 different institutions shared the results of their studies which they have conducted for the past three years in Istanbul. Seminars attracting a lot of attention were provided by 556 participants in total. 42 percent of the presented studies focused on Istanbul in general. In the seminars, 93 different projects/areas planned for Istanbul were discussed in terms of their different dimensions via 26 presentations. Research areas and topics discussed in the seminars have revealed important results for Istanbul´s agenda.
One of the most outstanding topics brought by the studies is how Istanbul´s multi-layered structure directs urban planning and the results of city-wide planning practices. In this context, one of the much-debated issues was cultural heritage and world heritage sites in Istanbul -whose historical areas were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List- and their needs for preservation and transformation policies. Asst.Prof.Dr. Buğrayhan Biçkici Arıkan discussed Istanbul´s heritage of water structures that have survived from the Ottoman era and are still usable, while Beyza Özengül reviewed Art Noveau-based architectural heritage from the Ottoman Era to evaluate current refunctioning studies and to suggest preservation methods. Kutlu Neydim revealed the effects of Istanbul´s urban identity shaped after the 1980´s on the historical city center. In this context, the effects of urban renewal projects and new development projects in the historical peninsula on cultural heritage and the sufficiency of cultural heritage impact assessment practices were discussed comprehensively by different disciplines. Gizem Konat İrkit pointed that urban archeology studies are vital to make past experiences and transitions of cities visible and to create a sustainable link between Istanbul´s past and future. Lecturer Ayşegül Can, PhD. pointed out that new practices under the influence of globalization caused an intense gentrification process in the historical core and it creates tension for urban space by reducing the sense of belonging of inhabitants. Another researcher Burcu Sarı,MSc. said that periodic changes in urban policies transform not only the concept of common space but also urban texture, while Res. Asst. Can Baldan mentioned that the change of user groups in a city can also affect producing urban space and the identity of minorities. It was stressed that all those region-based changes may destroy tangible and intangible heritage and cause loss of identity for such a multi-layered city. Herein, three vital subjects –identity, common space and public space– formed the backbone of webinar.
Pelin Albayrak, MBA. drew attention to the fact that even the squares in historical city centers stay as public space, their importance and surrounding functions had changed because of urban policies and texture. On the other hand, Res. Asst. Özge Gürsoy and Res. Asst. Selda Cansu Temel presented a quality assessment study for urban squares and common spaces in Istanbul in terms of design principles and features via examples.
Another most mentioned topic in webinar was transformation processes that Istanbul has undergone in conformity with its global identity. It was mentioned that Istanbul’s participation in the UNESCO Creative City Network as Design City in 2017 has shown an outstanding improvement in terms of sustainable growth and entrepreneurship due to the city’s changing identity from heavy industry to creative industry. Gözde Karahan said that although Istanbul has been producing strategies to be a finance city and the market had started to institutionalize by the 1995’s, property owners of Istanbul´s office market have been demanding rack rents to maximize the sales value, which has caused tenantless and empty offices in the long term. Şeyma Öztaş, MSc. referred to the role of rental housing and transformation of housing areas in Istanbul following the rapid population increase. Öztaş analyzed the transformation of rental housing stock in parallel with urban policies. H. Aysun Özkan Yazar discussed the development period of gated communities in Istanbul in terms of housing policies and related actors to evaluate the management and organizational structure behind those housing sites. Nuray Çolak Tatlı took the new dynamics of Istanbul´s development strategies in terms of debureaucratization and accelerating the process and she relayed the link between market conditions, transaction cost and institutional structure via housing projects. Selin Turan, who evaluated the effects of Istanbul´s physical change on social structure through neighborhood, discussed Kurtulus-Feriköy areas previously hosting different ethnic groups and minorities. She concluded that layered and multi-ethnic characteristics of those areas provided a socially, economically and physically multi-cultural structure. She further added that all these increase the social resilience, which creates sustainable societies.
Focusing on the example of Ataturk Airport, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Akansel Yalçınkaya said that big-scale urban projects had had certain impacts on Istanbul´s identity and texture. However, those projects are under the threat of losing their importance due to changing policies. Another presenter Res. Asst. Ayça Çelikbilek threw a light on the fact that the mega projects in Istanbul are pilot projects to attract more investment instead of renewing old areas. Çelikbilek also said that top-down projects without public participation are faced with urban dissidence because of timeout and cost excess. Res. Asst. Araf Öyku Türken evaluated the e-participation-based projects in Istanbul and their policies in terms of their effects on participation. Özge Akyüz mentioned the importance of participatory process prioritizing different perspectives, common needs and healthy solutions and said that participative planning is the key to obtain public trust and transparency, to increase applicability, to provide a sense of belonging and for more public participation in general. She also stressed the benefits of the participative planning actions in Adalar district. On the other hand, Baştuğ underlined the importance of local participation and environmental consciousness to prevent climate crisis and presented information on the local climate action plan of Kadıköy Municipality and activities run by the locals. Another presenter Res. Asst. Emre Söylemez focused on the example of Kadıköy area and claimed that neglecting the three concepts -time, space and society- can ruin the functionality of multi-disciplinary structure urban planning by creating problems.
In addition to urban management and governance, risk management was also discussed as a main theme. Gökhan Sapmaz mentioned the vitality of using geological data and microzoning studies to plan a resilient city and claimed that most projects and post-disaster assembly areas have been developed on risky areas, creating a secondary disaster risk.
One of the most discussed headlines of seminars was the ‘health city’ concept as Covid-19 pandemic has taken the world by storm. Lecturer Ece Özmen and Tolga Kayacan,PhD. pointed out that unplanned and dense structuring puts Istanbul to the top of the most stressful cities list due to lack of common spaces and efficient transportation. Gözde Karahan who has studied changing transportation preferences and car ownership ratios by new working models during the pandemic mentioned the possible alternatives to regulate increasing vehicle usage.
Although nearly all the urban development strategies discussed in the seminars and run in Istanbul are a part of the efforts to create a sustainable city and society, Prof. Dr. Nurhan YENTÜRK particularly drew attention to the fact that metropolitan municipalities and related institutions have been suffering from decreases in their budgets to fulfill their goals to provide environmental protection and climate change. She further added that budget funds of Istanbul´s municipalities allocated for climate crisis have decreased over the years while current policies have focused on waste management. Also, Baştuğ referred to Kadıköy Municipality´s current climate action plans and projects by saying that participation of locals is a vital factor.
