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Large-scale high-rise architecture projects have been central to the rise of the construction industry in Turkey in recent years. This vertical escalation, however, has not been received without dissidence. Scholars, activists, journalists and officials with different viewpoints have participated in media debates regarding the reasons and consequences of this transformation. In these discussions, stakeholders have raised various environmental, cultural and ethical concerns that the vertical organisation of cities generate. Focussing on juxtapositions of Izmir and Istanbul in debates on urban verticality in the city of Izmir, Turkey's third most populated city, the paper examines how such comparisons with Istanbul, where the recent urban neoliberal transformation is experienced most intensely, have been mobilised to oppose vertical expansion. The paper argues that as a result of the recent centralisation of the Turkish economy around construction, the hyper-visibility of skyscrapers and the concentration of the urban transformation generated by the Turkish construction industry in Istanbul, skyscrapers have become materialised symbols of Istanbul's integration into global capitalism, neoliberal urbanisation, and the difference between Istanbul and other urban centres in Turkey. This example establishes urban verticality as a discursive axis at which urban centres outside of the Global North establish their difference from each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this opinion paper, I trace children's access to play in the urban context against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on the news, civil society organizations' reports and conversations with experts working in Istanbul, Turkey during the last year, I show how children's access to public places in the city gets constrained by urban governance that neglects young people's needs. Examples from the neighborhoods of Istanbul, Turkey, indicate the importance of having in mind the whole community while thinking about bringing play opportunities in public spaces and at the same time raise questions about children's participation in these processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based mainly on original French archival sources, this paper discusses the conduct and extent of French military and civil activities in Ottoman Istanbul during the Crimean War. Using both qualitative and quantitative indicators, the paper shows how the necessities generated by the war, promoted an unprecedented growth in the French military and civil presence in Istanbul. Through this approach, the paper explains to what degree the war created new market opportunities for various French products and services, a favourable environment for the establishment of French hospitals, and also occasions for cultural encounters between the French and the Ottomans in Istanbul. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the age of socio-ecological crises in which we live, the urgency of understanding the complicated relationship between society and nature is apparent. To achieve this, unfolding the urban metabolism of cities through metabolic flows from the perspective of urban political ecology will grow increasingly essential in the future. This paper aims to explore the concept of urban political ecology as a perspective for understanding emergence of a new urban metabolism in İstanbul in the nineteenth century through metabolic flows of water. The context of "metabolic" emphasizes labor as an agent for the very production of nature as urbanized nature through tap water, waste, and sanitation. It shows the transition and the conflict between the labor-intensive urban metabolism and capital-intensive urban metabolism of İstanbul, which started in the nineteenth century. The metabolic flows of water in terms of infrastructure were affected by the first impacts of foreign capital investments and capitalist relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the high streets of Istanbul within the context of high street management through four dimensions of location and movement, physical fabric, real estate & land use and exchange, and suggests a comprehensive approach to manage these commercial axes. While analysing the chosen study areas of Istiklal Street, Bagdat Street and Nisantasi District under the given topics, this paper makes use of analyses regarding transportation network, footfall, commercial and non-commercial use, prime rental values, besides a literature review to have an understanding towards the nature of each case study area. The results imply that despite their differences, all three study areas face certain issues that point out the lack of comprehensive strategic approaches to their management. Towards the high streets of Istanbul, this paper proposes a management approach embracing three main goals: (1) to constitute a brand image, (2) to decrease the vulnerability against macroeconomic factors and (3) to maintain vitality and viability of these axes. To overcome the complexities regarding management issues, this paper suggests an organizational and institutional approach, dedicated to considering the interests of all users on high streets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foucault’s pendulum is one of the most important scientific achievements of the French physicist Léon Foucault. The performance of the experiment in 1851 was the first tangible proof of the Earth’s rotation. The relative technical simplicity and beauty of the experiment led to many repetitions of it, the manufacture of related pendulums by scientific instrument manufacturers, and the permanent or temporary installation of such pendulums in educational institutions for teaching as well as aesthetic reasons. The Phanar Greek Orthodox College in İstanbul is the oldest operating school of the city’s Greek community. After many moves during the first four centuries of its operation, the College found a permanent home in an impressive privately owned building in Fener in 1881. The building hosts a rich collection of scientific instruments, acquired mainly in the last quarter of the 19th century by French manufacturers and at the beginning of the 20th by Germans and Austrians. In 1912 special changes were made to the building to house a Foucault pendulum which was manufactured by the German company Max Kohl. This paper presents the history of this device, which is one of the first (perhaps the first) used in the Ottoman Empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper foregrounds the state–corporate alliance in real estate development in Istanbul since the early 2000s. Employing a geo-coded sample of 294 private housing development projects built since the early 1980s and in-depth interviews with the private development companies, the paper focuses on how the construction industry and the massive commodification of urban land produced a new state–space nexus. The underlying question here is the nascent shape of urban political-economy, the trends of housing construction, the cycles of boom and bust and the mechanisms of capital accumulation concerning the state's centralising control over space. In this sample, a few critical aspects of the production of concrete space became apparent. Seven findings are discussed. First, the developers of Istanbul followed the clientelistic patterns in the urban built environment. The second aspect is that the state is the sole supply-side actor that determines Istanbul's built environment. The third point in this analysis of urban development initiated by the private sector is focused on the fact that the real estate speculation is state-led. The fourth and fifth points are related to the Turkish real estate developers' inability to procure financing for the duration of the construction process. The sixth factor in the evaluation of the private real estate sector in Istanbul is the geographical and class dispersal of active development projects. The seventh factor in understanding those real estate developers is their novel approach to marketing and advertisement and the way they employ architecture as an extension of public relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outside of the Global North, where agri-food systems have not yet consolidated into a 'funnel shape,' what makes an urban provisioning actor 'alternative' is not always clear. In this paper, I use members' own definitions, emphases, and arguments to differentiate 'alternative' networks from other provisioning actors. Using data from semi-structured interviews, I show that while community-building and an affiliation with the food movement (broadly defined) are the most critical features identified by people who participate in these networks, more informal, ad hoc, familial or village networks that are utilized as a response to urban food insecurity are excluded. While such exclusions may not be unique, in this case, they reflect more fundamental divisions regarding what 'alternative' implies and how to challenge the throttling hold of conventional provisioning agents on the contemporary agri-food system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water supply has been a chronic challenge in Istanbul since its foundation. Authorities have sought alternative methods since the Roman and Byzantine periods. Cisterns, channels and wells surveyed in urban heritage sites in Istanbul provide evidence of rainwater harvesting (RWH) as a working solution in the past. However, RWH systems have only been utilized in contemporary plans and policies very recently, particularly since the climate change crisis entered the political agenda in Turkey. Taking this as a point of departure, this paper investigates the challenges of widespread implementation of RWH systems in Istanbul through a participatory inquiry with water management actors. Challenges and needs are explored through a set of in-depth interviews and participatory workshops with representatives from water management institutions. The findings reveal that current challenges are related to planning and development, legislation and governance, financing, society, infrastructure, installation and operation of systems. The potential solution is the establishment of a governance mechanism that enables collective action among relevant actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I tackle the center-periphery dynamics under planetary urbanization by focusing on Gebze, the gigantic industrial city just outside of Istanbul's administrative borders. Through an empirical study of peripheral urbanization processes in the Gebze-Istanbul axis, the paper engages with the planetary sub/urbanization debates and serves the triple purpose: (I) to emphasize the significance of peripheralization and the center-periphery dialectics to critique the predominant emphasis on centrality in urban and regional research which relegates the socio-spatial and political transformations of the peripheries to the background, (II) to offer an alternative approach to depictions of cities as sentient, anthropomorphic actors in a hierarchical and competitive Darwinian ecology, and (III) to contribute to planetary sub/urbanization debates by zooming in on some of the micro-spaces of peripheral Gebze during the extended urbanization process in greater Istanbul. Through a transdisciplinary methodology, the paper provides a local ontology by displaying how peripherality is constructed not merely from above and the center by the state or economic actors, but also by the people from below and the periphery, as it were, during their everyday rhythms, activities, negotiations, and coping. By resisting the merely expanded application of the term suburban, and instead taking seriously the complex web of governance, agency, defeat, organization, and exploitation within the lives of Gebze's inhabitants, the article concludes that such phenomena make any universalizing claim about the urban or the suburban incomplete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the everyday mobilities of low-income populations during the Covid-19 pandemic through a mixed-methods study in İstanbul. It shows how additional economic burdens brought by the Covid-19 pandemic interplay with low-income residents' attitudes towards using different transport modes, mobility levels, and concerns over public transport use based on socioeconomic and demographic differences. It suggests that household structures, social networks and perceived mobility restrictions tend to be associated with mobility patterns and practices. The paper argues that changes and continuities in mobility trends and practices due to the pandemic should be considered with broader social and economic dynamics at the household and community level. It draws key lessons learned concerning the pandemic mobilities to be transferred to future transport policy and mobility governance so that intragenerational inequalities could be mainstreamed in these policy domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical reliability assessment, which is based on past real data, is vital for utilities since it reflects the system's operational behavior best. Therefore, most utilities prefer historical reliability assessment rather than a predictive assessment. This paper includes two major parts; the first part analyses the historical data for four feeders sector of the Bosporus Electricity Distribution Incorporated distribution grid based on their historical collected data, while, the second part of the paper uses the analyzed historical data as a reference input for the Monte Carlo simulation method to assess the future reliability analysis. The results show that the proposed reliability assessment methodology is a powerful tool for the future reliability assessment of power distribution grids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a methodology of decision making and policy guidance based on a multi-criteria decision aiding (MCDA) method for a comprehensive evaluation of intercity bus terminals in Istanbul, Turkey. Since decisions on the location of bus terminals in large agglomerations determine transportation costs and the quality of service of public transport passengers, the use of multicriteria analysis becomes necessary. In that respect, the intercity bus terminals proposed by 2023 Long-Range Landuse Plan (LRLUP) and 2023 Transportation Master Plan (TMP) of Istanbul are examined based on decision criteria of accessibility and suitability within the environment they are located. The multi-criteria analysis was performed using the additive value (AV) model to evaluate the locations of existing and planned intercity bus terminals in Istanbul based on their specific location characteristics defined. Criteria used in the analysis are the location within the region, population coverage and density, land value, accessibility by highway and public transit modes, availability of land for capacity expansion, and the surrounding land-use and geological characteristics. Based on the design criteria assessed, a general score for the location of each intercity bus-terminal (two existing and nine planned) was calculated using normalized importance weights obtained from an expert survey, and then the terminals were ranked based on their scores calculated for the base (2010 and before) and plan years (2023), respectively. Based on their total score, they were ranked and grouped into three categories as follows: (1) scores higher than 0.75, (2) between 0.51 and 0.75, and (3) equal to or smaller than 0.50. All planned terminals scored equal or higher than 0.50 (two out of nine are in the first category, six are in the second category, and one is in the third category), and this proved that all of them were planned where they were needed. Then, an availability analysis was carried out to identify the configurations of the bus terminals depending on each other, which is deemed to yield their best configuration. The results of this paper will be of relevance to urban and transportation planners facing a decision to make and prioritize transport planning decisions concerning the spatial planning of a metropolitan city based on chosen decision criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to offer a framework for the gradual transition to cycling as a sustainable mode of transport in developing megacities having low or non-existent cycling modal share. By drawing on multi-level perspective, the paper first establishes a socio-technical transition framework incorporating the multi-actor, multi-level and multi-dimensional aspects of the cycling systems. The paper then argues that the transition to cycling is contingent on integrating the multiple dimensions of the cycling socio-technical system. A case study of cycling in Istanbul, a rapidly growing developing megacity in Turkey with a population of nearly 15 million people, is given to illustrate how the proposed framework can be applied. The paper concludes that significant progress towards the introduction of cycling in Istanbul depends on integrating a variety of socio-technical elements including infrastructure, technology, policies and regulations, culture and social meanings. This perspective informs the analysis of the socio-technical transition to cycling for the cities aiming to introduce cycling for the first time. The paper contributes to both sustainable urban mobility and socio-technical transition literature by developing a novel framework for cycling systems. • Proposes a socio-technical transition framework for the adoption of cycling in developing megacities • Adapts the multi-level perspective (MLP) approach for cycling systems • Provides a multi-level, multi-dimensional and multi-actor analysis of the cycling systems • Gives an empirical application of the proposed framework for Istanbul's urban mobility [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how layers of history can be parsed in a neighborhood through narrative analysis, using Balat, an old quarter of Istanbul, as a case study. The study tests the relevance of several methodologies and concepts, including palimpsest, chronotope and heterotopia, to see whether local, Constantinopolitan iterations of these ways of reading can be marshalled instead. To that end, it has recourse to Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar’s extensive writing on Istanbul to expand on concepts such as terkip, macera and buhran. These concepts are traced backwards and forwards in time to see how they apply to different writers’ work on Istanbul/Constantinople through the ages, such as Odo of Deuil, Evliya Çelebi, John Ash and Orhan Pamuk. This comparative exercise reveals an affective bond between the writers, one that favors imperial melancholia and nostalgia. The contemporary nostalgia/melancholia affect is then shown to be either savored or shunned by Istanbulites and visitors, as they make use of this poetics of the past as cultural capital, they may invest in for use on social media today [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to debates on urban citizenship and public culture. Drawing on detailed empirical research in Istanbul, Turkey, we analyse two key contemporary arts organisations that experiment with new organisational and curatorial practices in order to realise cultural infrastructures of common life in a city strongly shaped by urban development along neoliberal and neoconservative lines. Empirically, this directs attention to the near-complete absence of Turkish government actors and in turn the major role played by Turkish private businesses as well as public organisations, mostly from Europe, in supporting the contemporary arts in Istanbul. This particular institutional geography of funding and support sustains a local space of openness and autonomy from state intervention and enables these organisations to develop situated strategies of urban engagement. Theoretically, this paper develops the notion of spaces of openness and argues that these spaces are usefully conceptualised as experimental, networked and solidary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey is vulnerable to disasters such as earthquakes, flood, and landslides. Millions of housing units are planned to be demolished and rebuilt in the next 15 years within the scope of urban transformation. The existing legal framework and implementations are hardly participatory and thus cause conflicts. The aims of this study are: 1) to address the weaknesses and strengths of urban transformation practices in Turkey critically with a focus on Istanbul, and 2) to develop a new participatory design model for urban transformation processes by making use of contextualised ICT-based participation tools and techniques. This paper critically maps and discusses urban transformation processes in Istanbul by tracing how these practices take place on the ground and considering the different perspectives of stakeholder groups. We present an applicable model that consists of a system of participatory actions, interaction environments such as an expert collaboration platform developed specifically for Istanbul's urban transformation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water demand for Istanbul is supplied both by impounded reservoirs located within its provincial boundaries and by water transfer from Western and Eastern regions in peripheral areas, located in South-West Black Sea region. The runoff coefficient defined as the ratio of the streamflow to the precipitation, plays a key role in the calculation of the surface water yield of water catchment areas. In this paper, we present the computation of monthly runoff coefficients for an accurate estimation of the yield of the catchment areas. We obtain statistical parameters for monthly temperatures and precipitation, based on 105-year data recorded at Istanbul Kandilli Observatory, modeled as Gaussian and Rayleigh distributed random variables, respectively. We run simulations to predict temperatures and precipitation over a horizon extending to 2100. We apply Turc's formula and Thornthwaite method to obtain monthly runoff coefficients based on long-term data. The results are compared and discussed with the findings of previous researches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the debate on modern architectural heritage by emphasizing the values-based context of conservation. Considering the abstractness of the concepts and the clarity of realities, the paper tries to introduce the uncertainty of the valuation phase for the conservation of modern architectural heritage by presenting a remarkable case study: The Headquarters Building of the Turkish Republic (T.R.) 17th Regional Directorate of Highways Complex, Istanbul. Designed by Mehmet Konuralp in 1973, the Headquarters, as one of the first skyscrapers in Istanbul presenting the basic qualities of modernism, was listed as an architectural asset in 2004 based on its art-design, artistic-technical, social, and symbolic values. However, it fell victim to a series of decisions taken by administrative authorities on the grounds that the attributed values are not worth protecting. Through a comprehensive analysis of the Headquarters, this study intends to demonstrate the incomplete understandings of modern architectural heritage and its values, as well as to present a discussion concerning similar cases at risk. As a concluding remark, the existing values-based approach of conservation for the modern architectural heritage calls into question and some initial possibilities are proposed to raise awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an aspiring global city, Istanbul is at the crossroads of capital, political struggle, and socioeconomic transformation. Unfortunately, Istanbul is also at the crossroads of major active fault lines. This paper analyzes earthquake risk mitigation planning for the megacity since the last big seismic catastrophe of the Marmara Earthquakes in 1999 that hit the region, including Istanbul. We use the concept of riskscape to explore the political and technocratic construction of seismic risk and how this implies different experiences of risk to investment portfolios, the state, and the ordinary people living in the city. Our empirical analyses focus on the 'Istanbul Seismic Risk Mitigation and Emergency Preparedness Project' (ISMEP), launched as a World Bank project in 2005 and still ongoing as of 2020. We argue that the ISMEP project epitomizes the 'strange case' of earthquake risk mitigation in Istanbul due to its organizational complexity, financial expansion over its lifetime, and progression as a megaproject sponsored by international development funding despite its contraction in institutional targets. Our findings suggest that this centralized and non-transparent earthquake risk mitigation approach in Istanbul creates a fragmented riskscape for the megacity. The earthquake risk continues to threaten millions of inhabitants' lives and livelihoods while making room for speculative real estate development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Built in the sixth century as an Orthodox church, the building dedicated to Christ as Holy Wisdom--Hagia Sophia--has served as a symbol of power and faith. Ingeniously designed and lavishly endowed with images and objects, Hagia Sophia has enhanced ecclesiastical and imperial ceremonies, has awed and inspired, and has adapted to changing religious and political landscapes over the course of its long history. This paper details the impressive architecture and decorations of Hagia Sophia, as well as its transformations from a Christian church into a mosque, then into a secular institution, a museum, and now once again into a mosque. The argument centres on the cultural and spiritual power of Hagia Sophia, which continues to stimulate the imagination and the spirit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines heritage, and particularly intangible heritage, by concentrating on the experience of smell to explore a heritage site in Istanbul, Turkey: the Spice Market. Due to a restoration project, the site became the focus of the 2012 international workshop ‘Urban Cultural Heritage and Creative Practice,’ which aimed at documenting the existing and threatened scents of the marketplace. In 2016 a gallery exhibition, ‘Scent and the City,’ was created as part of an effort to raise awareness about how scent constitutes an important component of the heritage of place. After providing a brief overview of the marketplace’s transformations since its construction in the seventeenth century, this paper covers various methods of scent research, including scent walks, mapping, oral history interviews, and artistic performances, and illustrates how the smellscapes of this historic, and now touristic, quarter of Istanbul are changing. By bringing a sensory approach to this important heritage site in Istanbul we demonstrate how an embodied approach, which forefronts scent as intangible heritage and a primary modality, can serve as a catalyst for individuals and communities to access their memories, emotions, and values and increase awareness of the role scent plays in defining locality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper compares how Istanbul and Beirut both attempt to underline their cultural and developmental uniqueness today in contrast to a metonymic menace – Dubai, standing in for spectacular yet supposedly cultureless Gulf cities. Even amid their own speculative construction frenzies that threaten local heritage, Turkish and Lebanese city-shapers assert theirs are 'real' cities because they have 'civilization' and 'history.' By addressing their own efforts to build, defend, or oppose physical infrastructures related to local urban culture, Istanbullus and Beirutis rely on and reassert strategic, phatic discourses that frequently reference Gulf cities as counterpoint. Analysis focuses on how each city crafts a distinctive urban profile via civilizational appeals to historic senses of culture, inflecting infrastructural developments related to bridging (Istanbul) and bordering (Beirut). Historical truisms are deployed with marked flexibility to showcase these cities as 'not Dubai.' This study offers lessons on the particular worlding of Middle Eastern cities and the role of discourses in the material-symbolic infrastructure of implicit urban cultural policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable urban transitions promise high mitigation and adaptation potential to address the effects of anthropogenic climate change. The two coastal megacities studied in this paper, Shanghai and Istanbul, have the potential for low-carbon urban transitions that can destabilize existing regimes. The destabilization is brought about by the disruptive business model innovations of the sharing economy in Shanghai's mobility sector and by the energy-efficient practices developed alongside the intensification of the building sector through the process of urban renewal in Istanbul. However, the emergence of such urban transitions through the actions of agents relies on the existence of enabling environments for regime destabilization. In a comparative case study of Shanghai and Istanbul, we assess the challenges of realizing regime destabilization opportunities through an enabling environment framework. We find that without adequate enabling environments for regime destabilization, urban transitions to sustainability may fail to achieve effective low-carbon action and make progress towards meeting the sustainable development goals. We also show that while deliberate and collective efforts are underway from multiple agents within and beyond the two megacities, the environments for regime destabilization in the building and transport sectors considered remain insufficient primarily due to conflicting priorities among key agents in the underlying urban systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gated communities have received significant attention in academic debates. Despite this, there is a lack of studies on differentiation and tensions between them. This paper analyses differentiation between gated communities by adopting the theory of “symbolic boundaries” [Lamont, M., 1992.Money,morals,and manners:the culture of the French and American upper-middle class. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press]. It uses the data collected from fieldwork in two gated communities in Istanbul, Turkey, comprising semi-structured in-depth interviews with residents. First, the paper contributes to Lamont's “symbolic boundaries” [Lamont, M., 1992.Money,morals,and manners:the culture of the French and American upper-middle class. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press] by showing that morality is not independent from socio-economic context, but indicates the legitimate values of a given social context. This is shown in residents’ use of moral boundaries such as a law-abiding lifestyle, legitimate sources of capital accumulation and the existence of warmer relations with each other. Second, the paper contributes to the study of gated communities by demonstrating that they can be regarded as spatial manifestations of the division within the upper classes which results from competition for deserved status. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Leishmania is an intracellular parasite, which is transmitted by the bite of infected female Phlebotominae sand flies. Turkey is a crossroad between Europe and Asia that makes it important in terms of epidemiology. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate Leishmania infection among non-autochthonous patients admitted to Health Sciences University, Dr. Sadi Konuk Research and Training hospital between 2014−2018. Slides were prepared by sampling the edge of the lesions for each patient. Microscopical examination was performed after staining procedures. After microscopical examination slides were washed and DNA extraction was performed. ITS-1 real-time PCR was performed to identify the species of the causative agents. Demographic data were recorded for each patient. Also number, type and location of the lesions were recorded. Totally 13 patients were included in this. Majority (12/13) of them were found to be infected with L. tropica , while one patient was infected with L. infantum. Two of the lesions were wet type and 11 of them were dry type lesions. Several papers were published recently about leishmaniasis in Turkey but to best of our knowledge, this is the first study reporting refugee leishmaniasis in İstanbul. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Drawing on an agency theory approach, this paper examines conflict of interests and the resulting agency costs in the provision of urban public transport services in Istanbul's public transport system, particularly the private bus and minibus operators' relationship with local government. The agency problem in Istanbul's urban mobility system shows itself most explicitly in private bus and minibus operators because of the net-cost (NC) contract model in place. The private bus and minibus operators' relationship with local government is examined as a case study of agency relationships. Conceptually, government transport authorities and transport operators, together with the passengers, are the main actors of this urban public transport system. They all have distinct needs, interests and requirements and interact with each other, all embedded in a specific institutional environment. Service quality provided by public transport operators depends on the positive interactions between these actors. Whereas passengers demand reliable, affordable, safe and comfortable mobility services, private bus and minibus operators aim to increase their revenue and maximise their profits. In contrast to this, government bus operators provide in-house bus services without much concern for profitability. Regulators or local authorities, on the other hand, are expected to set up an institutional environment where passengers' and operators' expectations are met in a satisfactory manner. Empirical analyses and interviews with key agents demonstrate that agency costs are shown to be the result of misaligned interests between the government transport authority and private operators that lead to reduced service quality in terms of safety, comfort, reliability and affordability. We conclude that the agency costs of current NC contracting on passengers in Istanbul has deficiencies and propose instead a performance-based gross-cost (PrGC) contracting model. PrGC contracting can alleviate agency costs by changing the incentives of operators where regulatory and financing mechanisms are not enough to handle NC contracting. Istanbul represents some transferable lessons and implications, especially for developing cities around the world. Highlights • Explores the conflicts of interests between urban transport operators and authorities through agency theory approach. • Gives an empirical application of agency analysis for Istanbul's private operators. • Reveals the agency costs of current net-cost contracting on service quality in Istanbul. • Proposes a performance-based gross-cost contracting to mitigate agency costs. • Provides policy recommendations to reduce the undesirable impacts of agency costs on urban mobility policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the early 2000s, the numbers of alternative food networks (AFNs) in Istanbul have increased significantly. Members are usually white collar, university educated, upper middle class Istanbulites who got into the AFNs during their (or their partner's) pregnancy. Contributing to an ongoing discussion about the exclusionary dynamics within the food movement, in this paper I trace the meanings these affluent mothers attach to "clean and fresh foods" and AFN participation-membership. Using evidence from semi-structured interviews, I argue that they link their identity as food activists and their identity as mothers, and they use motherhood discursively to distinguish themselves from others - particularly lower-class mothers who are not AFN members, and women who are AFN members, but are not mothers. Further reinforcing the socio-economic boundaries and hierarchies within (and beyond) the AFNs, these discourses on motherhood also undermine the expansive potential of the food movement in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change adaptation is a rising global issue and has become the primary issue for transnational organisations and EU institutions. Particularly in developing and dynamic cities like Istanbul, the pressure of rapid urbanisation, institutional and legislative uncertainties are expected to create new vulnerabilities in ecosystems and their services. Climate change can cause new vulnerabilities in ecosystem services (ESs) through events such as floods, heat-waves, and droughts brought on by rises in temperatures and changes in precipitation. These vulnerabilities may affect the well-being of inhabitants and interfere with the reaching of sustainable development goals in the future. Istanbul has a unique geographical location for biological diversity when compared with other settlements in the region, and the urban development dynamics of the region play a significant role in the well-being of ecological units and biological diversity of the Istanbul Metropolitan Area (Özhatay, Byfield, & Atay, 2003; Tezer, 2005; Tezer et al., 2008). This paper aims to define which ESs are vulnerable due to both LCLU change caused by urbanisation and potential impacts of climate change. Particular importance is given to the result of the survey done with related stakeholders as it is used to define and to verify the existing and future vulnerabilities of ESs in Istanbul. Regarding the close relationship between ESs and LCLU, the impact of changes in LCLU on key ESs are evaluated by developing LCLU scenarios. Climate change scenarios are used in this paper to understand the possible future climatic conditions of Istanbul and their impact on LCLU and ESs. These two sub-results are prepared according to scenario analyses and are evaluated together to address the future vulnerabilities of ESs. Integration of ESs and climate change adaptation strategies into spatial planning (EEA, 2010) seems to be both necessary and urgent. Therefore, a spatial planning framework that is climate change adapted and ESs oriented is proposed as a key tool to achieve a climate resilient, sustainable development in Istanbul. The framework used in this paper can be used to develop relevant strategies and planning tools by considering climate change adaptive policies for other rapidly developing settlements. In brief, this paper aims to integrate ecosystems and their services into spatial planning by using relevant mapping of ESs, which will be utilised for the climate adaptive spatial policy development process for the Istanbul case. This paper has been prepared under the auspices of The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) Project No. 110K350. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities have been changing with the winds of globalization, which transforms economic structure from production to a more consumption-based economy. Especially since the 1990s, international events have increasingly become a new tool for attracting visitors, which bring revenue for the cities and enhance their competitiveness. Economically, it has been estimated that sporting events contribute 3% of the gross domestic product of OECD countries. Discussions in the literature related to sporting events generally focus on three main points: the organization and financing; the economic impacts; and the legacy of the events. The aim of this paper is to examine the hosting process of Formula 1 as a sporting event in Istanbul by taking into consideration the main discussion points. However, because the 2011 Formula 1 events no longer take place in Istanbul due to the lack of audience and very high costs, it has taught Istanbul some very important lessons. This paper argues that the public sector has failed to perform its most important role: proving the legitimacy of the event. Furthermore, the cost of Istanbul Park is huge, but the participation levels have been a lot lower than the Park's capacity and the legacy would be considered unfavorable. Most importantly, Formula 1's lack of success in Turkey can lead to a better understanding of the main strategies of urban development over the last decade, how to stimulate economic growth and enhance new capital accumulation through the big projects within the most competitive cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long acknowledged to be a center for religious pilgrimage, the importance of the Istanbul district of Eyüp is widely understood as being founded upon the figure of Halid bin Zeyd Ebâ Eyyûb el-Ensârî, a Companion of the Prophet Muhammad. Others point to the district's extensive cultural, political and social significance to explain its particular importance. In contrast, this paper avoids such reductive perspectives and argues that assemblage provides one particularly suggestive conceptual framework within which to reconsider Eyüp's significance, glossed in this paper as the ‘matters of the mosque'. Linking that discussion of assemblage to recent scholarship on Islam calling for a greater interrogation of the multiple (and sometimes ambivalent) modalities of religious practice, this paper draws on a series of fieldwork encounters to present one such grounded perspective. Paying particular attention to questions of agency, materiality and belief, this paper argues that assemblage provides an especially rich set of conceptual resources to continue developing new understandings of the practice of Islam; at the same time, this paper's careful attention to questions of belief addresses what has been heretofore underdeveloped in assemblage urbanism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Suleymaniye was one of the most densely populated areas of Istanbul in the Ottoman period. In order to protect the traditional cultural identity of Suleymaniye region and bring it in line with contemporary living conditions, a new project has been created by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Within the framework of the research on cloud computing on architecture, this paper will present both the results of terrestrial laser scanning which was used to obtain 3D point clouds through 3D survey measurements and scans of silhouettes of streets and roads, which were then transposed into survey images and designed as an example of city modelling. Additionally, the study will cite examples of how this technology has been used in Suleymaniye region. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper argues that gated communities are processual spaces which create new conflicts and blur the boundaries between inside and outside, open and private, and safe and unsafe realms. For this purpose, it uses the data collected during the fieldwork from two gated communities in Istanbul based on the examination of everyday life in two case studies. According to the data, gated communities create tensions in the use of facilities and common spaces, indicating a conflict between ownership of and access to space; the use of housing units, indicating a conflict between openness and privacy; and the use of walls and borders which blur the boundaries between inside and outside realms leading to safety gaps. Finally, the paper argues a processual space leading to conflicts and seeds of change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities can significantly contribute to the regional development and innovation capability of a city if the knowledge produced in universities can be appropriately cycled back to the city in the form of technological innovation. Technology parks and technology transfer offices (TTOs), as urban knowledge and innovation spaces, are two important channels of building research platforms with enterprises where universities can disseminate knowledge. While technology parks create space for knowledge generation and innovation within a city, university TTOs play a critical role in enhancing knowledge spillover and creating new start-up firms. This paper highlights the contribution universities can make to Istanbul's potential of becoming an innovative city that houses successful urban knowledge and innovation spaces. By conducting interviews with the managers of technoparks and TTOs in Istanbul, we explore how the existence of technoparks and TTOs within a university affects the success of technology-transfer mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Strike-slip faults may be traced along thousands of kilometers, e.g., the San Andreas Fault (USA) or the North Anatolian Fault (Turkey). A closer look at such continental-scale strike faults reveals localized complexities in fault geometry, associated with fault segmentation, secondary faults and a change of related hazards. The North Anatolian Fault displays such complexities nearby the mega city Istanbul, which is a place where earthquake risks are high, but secondary processes are not well understood. In this paper, long-term persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI) analysis of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data time series was used to precisely identify the surface deformation pattern associated with the faulting complexity at the prominent bend of the North Anatolian Fault near Istanbul city. We elaborate the relevance of local faulting activity and estimate the fault status (slip rate and locking depth) for the first time using satellite SAR interferometry (InSAR) technology. The studied NW-SE-oriented fault on land is subject to strike-slip movement at a mean slip rate of ~5.0 mm/year and a shallow locking depth of <1.0 km and thought to be directly interacting with the main fault branch, with important implications for tectonic coupling. Our results provide the first geodetic evidence on the segmentation of a major crustal fault with a structural complexity and associated multi-hazards near the inhabited regions of Istanbul, with similarities also to other major strike-slip faults that display changes in fault traces and mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increase in motor vehicle use is one of the important factors that cause traffic congestion, especially in megacities. Thus, the reasons behind this increase require serious attention. This paper offers an analysis of this kind, for a megacity from the developing world, Istanbul. A stratified multinomial logit model accounting for the availability of a second vehicle in the household is estimated for a sample drawn from a questionnaire to gather information of actual car use in Istanbul. This estimation is only possible through a unique data generation process that converts actual preferences into a choice study setting. In addition, a simulation study, generally utilized in the analyses of discrimination between certain layers of society, and a scenario analysis related to changes in income are also included in the paper for a better understanding of the nature of the topic. The results show that the behavior of households with a second vehicle available and not available varies significantly due to household, individual and professional-related characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Being a human endeavor, medical ethics and clinical practices are affected by a set of social and cultural norms in conjunction with factors pertaining to the patients' social and financial status. In this paper, I consider how gender and money shaped medical realities in the early modern Ottoman Empire. People of means certainly had more medical options available to them, although that did not necessarily lead to better results. Gender too was naturally an important factor, molding medical options and the relationship between patient and healer. The specific case of the imperial harem will reveal how high socio-economic status has actually curbed women's medical options, as their access to male doctors was limited. Based on Ottoman archival and legal sources and European travel literature, the paper examines how and why they were limited, and how they went about circumventing such restrictions. The picture that emerges reveals that being a member of the Ottoman elite had its price. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Genital hygiene is the major component of women's health and is very important for the protection of reproductive health. In this study, it was aimed to determine personal-genital hygiene behaviours, and genital infection complaints of women living in a suburban area of Istanbul. Material and Method: This cross-sectional, descriptive study was held in a suburban area in Istanbul in May 2007 with 117 15-49 aged women. Demographic characteristics, handwashing behaviours, toilette hygiene behaviours, menstrual hygiene behaviours and genital infection complaints of women interrogated according questionnaires. Results: Most (99%) of the women were using water and soap while washing hands. In 34% of the participants were washing their hands in more than 14 seconds. The rate of toilette paper usage after each toilette was 84%. The rate of using always hygienic pads was 47% among the women. Eighty four percent of the women were washing their genital area while having their menstruation and 61% were having a bath during the menstruation. The majority of the participants (97%) reported that they were washing their hands after changing pads. It was found that 59% of the women had at least one of the genital infection complaints in the last year. The rate of women who described a genital pathologic flow in the course of interview was 50%. There was positive correlation between age and pathologic secretion (Spearman's Rho: 0.29, p: 0.006) and there was statistically significant relation with toilette paper usage and genital pathologic flow complaints (X²:8.49; df:2, p: 0.01). Conclusion: High percentage of workgroup should be more attention to the personal and menstrual hygiene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore the success of the recent regeneration efforts in building sustainable communities in historic housing areas of Istanbul that have suffered from growing problems of urban deprivation and poverty. It explains the interplay between conservation, community needs and sustainability, based on the assumption that finding a balance between the needs, aspirations and concerns of local communities and the conservation of the built environments will lead to the creation of more equitable and sustainable communities in Istanbul's historic quarters. After investigating the Turkish urban conservation policy agenda, and the recent changes in the urban and socio-spatial structure of Istanbul, it examines the European Union-funded regeneration initiative of Fener and Balat, a declining neighbourhood in the Historic Peninsula. Debating the strengths and weaknesses of the community-based and participatory programme, the paper attempts to give clues for future regeneration initiatives to develop sustainable community policies in the historic neighbourhoods of Istanbul. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on Ara Güler's photographs of Istanbul, this paper explores the relationship between nostalgia and photography in the city. Most of Güler's best known photographs were taken in the 1950s and 1960s while he was working as a photojournalist for the print press. The re-coding of a selection of his black and white images since the 1990s as art photography and in the pursuit of recalling 'Old Istanbul' as a cosmopolitan city presents a revealing case. Güler's recruitment as a photojournalist in the 1950s was a result of the expansion and modernisation of the city's print press, which itself was a response to dramatic transformations in the city, such as massive rural-to-urban migration and urban renewal and expansion. Güler's pictures from this era are typically of the urban poor and working classes. Focusing on two journalistic narratives co-produced by Güler - one in 1959 for the illustrated journal Hayat, and the other in 1969 for the daily Akşam - this paper asks why and how only images from the latter circulate today. It argues that contemporary urban discourses influence how we interpret these old photographs now. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings of a comparative qualitative study of Turks who migrated to Istanbul from elsewhere in the country, and Turks who immigrated to Berlin. The main objective of the study is to describe and explain the segregation process affecting Turks in both cities. As the paper focuses on the process of segregation, the article follows the three basic stages along which the history of Turkish (im)migration to Germany and Istanbul has proceeded: the labour migrant stage, the family reunification stage and the settlement stage. Voices of (im)migrants are presented throughout the paper by reflecting their perceptions, values, experiences and dilemmas. The paper argues that internal differences within immigrant groups deserve more attention in order to better understand why some of them, despite being able to afford it, do not move out of concentration areas for better housing opportunities. In this context, the paper focuses on the internal cultural differentiation of Turkish migrants in Istanbul and Turkish immigrants in Berlin, with particular reference to their highly divergent religious understandings. We argue that conservatism—especially when it takes its roots from Islamism—has played an important role in shaping the residential preferences and choices of individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The metropolitan cities of the world continue to grow rapidly with their dynamic, mostly chaotic features that perpetually contain randomness, notwithstanding their specific differences. These inevitably constantly changing and transforming cities are shaped together with their permanent inhabitants and produce new urban spaces. In this regard, Istanbul has always been a laboratory for architectural applications, research and education rightfully due the numerous potentials it embodies. In this context, informal trainings and activities carried out outside the programs in architectural schools are increasingly becoming more important, and Istanbul is used as an instrument for these studies. From this point of view, so as to contribute to the discussions on the palimpsest character of Istanbul and to provoke post-graduate students and young architects to question the multi-layered state of the city, 'Culture and Space' Network has been organizing paper selections in Turkey for eight years. This current article reviews and analyzes a selected group of awarded papers from the paper selections in order to explore the concept of 'urban palimpsest', to read and understand the multi-layered and palimpsest structure of Istanbul from their perspectives, and to highlight their interpretations. • Reading the city • Istanbul as a palimpsest city • Understanding the city • Urban palimpsest • The role of the designers for future of the cities [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent discussions and empirical studies on civic engagement suggest that participatory planning efforts have to be differentiated at the local level. This paper conforms to the argument of the local context of decision for engaging and focuses on a multi-scale framework relating macro policy decisions and official practices to individual dilemmas. The emphasis is on three elements of the local context: the legacy of informality policies, ambiguities resulting from local government's planning practices, and citizens' perception of the local situation. The paper aims to show that, in an informal settlement, these local factors create a dilemma for the residents and make them reluctant to engage. The discussion in the paper is based on our research in the neighborhood Okmeydanı, in Istanbul. Our observations with quantitative and qualitative techniques showed that low levels of engagement with a redevelopment project in an informal settlement could be attributed, among other factors, to citizens' dilemma. The residents find themselves in a perplexing situation. They perceive the project as a chance to achieve improvement in their quality of life but, at the same time, as a threat to their existence due to the risks of gentrification and inequity. • Low levels of engagement in an informal settlement could be attributed to citizens' dilemma. • Citizens' dilemma is the result of a chain reaction of local events and socio-political processes • Citizens' engagement is significantly influenced by their property rights to land in countries like Turkey. • The residents of Okmeydanı feel coerced into a dead-end situation while giving their consent to the project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to re-read and define differentiating layers of the city of Istanbul through critical mappings as an interrogative socio-spatial research. Through this form of a new city read, information on daily urban and social practices, global impacts and urban and economic effects of consumption over space would be exposed among five different thematic constellations rooted from Guy Debord's The Society of the Spectacle. The author aims to clarify socio-spatial constellations over space, time and current trends by deconstructing the current city formation of Istanbul. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban redevelopment projects became the primary mechanisms of neoliberal urban policies in Istanbul. By analyzing the urban redevelopment projects of Beyoğlu and the responsive practices of local actors, this paper highlights the role of community organizations in resisting and challenging the state's urban planning policies. A collaboration among local citizens, civil society institutions, and community organizations of the case study area formed the Beyoğlu Neighborhood Associations Platform and searched for opportunities to reproduce neoliberal priorities and policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities can significantly contribute to the regional development and innovation capability of a city if the knowledge produced in universities can be appropriately cycled back to the city in the form of technological innovation. Technology parks and technology transfer offices (TTOs), as urban knowledge and innovation spaces, are two important channels of building research platforms with enterprises where universities can disseminate knowledge. While technology parks create space for knowledge generation and innovation within a city, university TTOs play a critical role in enhancing knowledge spillover and creating new start-up firms. This paper highlights the contribution universities can make to Istanbul's potential of becoming an innovative city that houses successful urban knowledge and innovation spaces. By conducting interviews with the managers of technoparks and TTOs in Istanbul, we explore how the existence of technoparks and TTOs within a university affects the success of technology-transfer mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In today's urbanizing world, home of 28 megacities, there is a growing need for tools to assess urban policies and support the design and implementation of effective development strategies. Unsustainable practices of urbanization bring major implications for land and environment, and cause a dramatic increase of urban vulnerability to natural hazards. In Istanbul megacity, disaster risk reduction represents a challenging issue for urban managers. In this paper, we show the relevance of the space-borne Differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR) technique as a tool for supporting risk management, and thus contributing to achieve the urban sustainability. To this aim, we use a dataset of high resolution SAR images collected by the TerraSAR-X satellite that have been processed through the advanced (multi-temporal) Small BAseline Subset (SBAS)-DInSAR technique, thus producing spatially-dense deformation velocity maps and associated time-series. Results allow to depict an up-to-date picture of surface deformations occurring in Istanbul, and thus to identify urban areas subject to potential risk. The joint analysis of remotely sensed measurements and ancillary data (geological and urban development information) provides an opportunity for city planners and land professionals to discuss on the mutual relationship between urban development policies and natural/man-made hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]