Minarets without Mosques: Limits to the Urban Politics of Neo-liberal Islamism

Cataloged from PDF version of article.This paper discusses urban politics in contemporary Turkey through a particular architectural phenomenon: that of minarets without mosques. Local administrations under neo-liberal Islamists propose urban regeneration projects which require extensive demolitions in squatter areas. Yet, their reluctance to tear down minarets creates ruinscapes in which minarets seem to have miraculously survived destruction. In this regard, the minarets without mosques should be understood as symptoms of urban transformation led by neo-liberal Islamism. Neo-liberal Islamists envisage these projects as spatial forms of politics of convergence, juxtaposing slum upgrading with luxurious housing within the unifying cultural codes of Islam. It is proposed to interpret these minarets not as bearers of religious symbolism but as nodes within the urban network of everyday life referring to Lefebvre's concept of rhythmanalysis. Viewed in this way, it becomes possible for the minarets to take on new meanings and serve as signs of the displacement of the squatters

Gazes in Dispute: Visual Representations of the Built Environment in Ankara Postcards

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Developing the argument that representations of urban space generate visual identifications, this paper discusses the co-existence of conflicting representations of Ankara in the early republican period. Whilst the earliest photographic images were dominated by Orientalist imagery depicting the alleged backwardness of the Orient, the visual representations of Ankara produced by the nation state were charged with new ideological meanings, since the process in which the city was made into the capital of the Turkish Republic was perceived as a reflection of the nation-building process. After the 1930s, various government publications proudly published images of Ankara under construction and the city's new architecture. These images of the nation's capital introduced a frame through which the city as the symbol of the republic should be seen and identified with. What complicated this process of identification were the photographs of Ankara which were produced by local photographers and circulated in the form of real photographic postcards, so-called because they were individually printed in small numbers. These postcards were naive in subject matter and insignificant in artistic value. Yet, precisely for the same reasons, they were much more powerful than mass-produced postcards in allowing consumers to identify with the images. Although the subjects of such postcards were similar to the photographs in government publications, they presented subtle deviations in terms of the representation of the built environment. They disrupted the gaze of the state, allowing the appropriation of the image of the city. It is shown throughout the paper that these postcards opened up the possibility of an active agency in terms of choosing, sending or collecting such representations. In this regard, real photographic postcards present a significant case of resistance to the state-controlled visual representation of the capital

Everywhere is Taksim': The Politics of Public Space from Nation-building to Neoliberal Islamism and Beyond

Cataloged from PDF version of article.This article discusses the politics of public space through the particular example of Taksim Square in Istanbul. Tracing Taksim’s history since the early twentieth century, the article analyzes the instrumentalization of public space in nation-building, the socialization of politics within the context of postwar rapid urbanization, and the (re)politicization of public space under neoliberal Islamism. Finally it arrives at an assessment of the nation-wide antigovernment protests that centered on Taksim Square in May–June 2013. Throughout this historical examination, the politics of public space is discussed with reference to the work of Henri Lefebvre, in order to scrutinize the spatial aspects of the relation between state and society. Accordingly, the rise of democratic public space is defined as a result of the mutual interaction between two bottom-up impetuses; the immanent politics of the social (the political character of everyday life) and the socialization of the political (civil political action)

City Profile: Ankara

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Although Ankara has a long history, it is generally known for its twentieth century development as the designed capital of the newly-born Turkish nation-state. The early episode of the city's growth displayed a typical example of modernization with the hand of a determined nationalist government. Yet, the second half of the century, also similar to other developing parts of the world, witnessed the uncontrollable expansion of the city with the emergence of squatter areas. Providing a brief discussion of this history, the article focuses on the recent developments in Ankara's urban growth, which was marked by an original trend in urban politics. A significant combination of neoliberal development strategies and Islamist social welfare policies has emerged in the Turkish cities in the last two decades. Ankara, being the symbol of republican modernization distinguished with a radical interpretation of secularism, suffers this political tension and witnesses the social predicaments of an immense transformation shaped by urban regeneration projects

"Early Republican Ankara": Struggle over Historical Representation and the Politics of Urban Historiography

Cataloged from PDF version of article.This article discusses the emergence of a particular historical representation: that of "early republican Ankara." Becoming the capital of the newly born Turkish nation-state in 1923, Ankara was conceived as the symbolic locus of Turkish modernization. The old Ottoman town was rapidly transformed into a modern capital. However, "early republican Ankara" as a historiographic category is a product of the 1990s. In this period, two distinct representations of the city surfaced. One was the outcome of the incorporation of the postmodern critique of modernization into Turkish political history and was supported by the growing interest in urban studies. The other was a direct product of the nationalist call of the Turkish political establishment in the face of pressure from Kurdish nationalism and political Islam. Within this context, the notion of "early republican Ankara" emerged as a nostalgic image to promote national unity

Critique by Design:Tackling Urban Renewal in the Design Studio

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The dominant mode of urbanization in our contemporary world is marked by large scale urban renewal projects, which are deployed with little or no consideration given to the social predicaments. The urban design studio can serve as a domain in which critical reflections on urban issues can be incorporated into design works. In this article, we propose a methodology of 'critique by design', which does not seek to arrive at scientific knowledge but rather involves the development of urban design proposals critically engaging with the urban issues they address through conceptual approaches. We discuss our methodology through the case of an experimental studio work conducted in Ankara, Turkey at Bilkent University, Department of Urban Design and Landscape Architecture in 2011

The shape of the nation: Visual production of nationalism through maps in Turkey

Nationalism, as a political discourse requiring a fundamental connection to a particular territory has constantly referred to maps as evidence of the eternal existence of the respective nation. In the case of modern Turkey, the national map has been a symptomatic signifier of a constant anxiety of territorial loss. Built around such anxiety, Turkish nationalism has been sensitive towards the borders defining national territory. This article analyzes the use of national maps as instruments for the cultural production of nationalism in Turkey throughout the last three decades. In the process, it is intended to differentiate between official maps produced under state authority and popular maps circulated in mass media. Throughout the 1980s, national maps included in school textbooks presented a country surrounded by hostile neighbors on all sides, in tune with the political climate of the Cold War. A crucial aspect of these official maps was the cartographic awareness they generated which, in the following decade, would become operational in the widespread use of the map as a nationalist sign. With the emergence of the Kurdish question in the 1990s, the national map became a key instrument in promoting nationalist sentiments with the invention of the flag-map logo as a favorite symbol. After the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Kurdish issue was projected on to Northern Iraq, and a new mode of cartographic representation was invented. "Appropriated maps" produced through the digital retouching of random maps found on the Internet visualized irredentist desires enlarging the country's territory especially into Northern Iraq and invoking the Ottoman past. These maps, which consciously distorted geographical information, turned to historical references to sustain their cartographic validity. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd

Architectural mimicry and the politics of mosque building: negotiating Islam and Nation in Turkey

This paper discusses the politics of mosque architecture in modern Turkey. The classical Ottoman mosque image has been reproduced in state-sponsored mosques throughout the second half of the twentieth century. Defining this particular design strategy as architectural mimicry, I discuss the emergence of this image through the negotiation between the nation-state and the ‘nationalist conservative’ discourse within the context of Cold War geopolitics. Comparing the Turkish case with the Islamic post-colonial world, I argue that the prevalence of architectural mimicry is related to the nostalgia it generates. Nostalgia is a discursive effect of architectural mimicry which is in tune with the nationalist conservative worldview in its relationship to the state's anti-communism. This particular image was taken up by the Islamist AKP in the 2000s, within the context of the global rise of political Islam. In this instance, the same representation took on a different meaning. It functioned as a simulacrum representing the ‘nation in Islam’ with a claim to authenticity amongst the competing Islamic representations. © 2016 RIBA Enterprises

Urban design—or lack thereof—as policy: the renewal of Bursa Doğanbey District

The role of urban design in urban policy making has been extensively discussed in recent years due to the insufficiency of existing applications in the complex structure of global urbanization. This paper aims at addressing the role of urban design as a policy instrument in urban politics through a case in one of the metropolitan cities of Turkey, Bursa. The case presented in the article reflects the emergence of a non-space in a city with a rich historic and cultural heritage. Lack of control and accountability, lack of communication between actors in the process and power coalitions are the main reasons of this process that caused the huge misfit between TOKI Doganbey settlement and the overall context. This settlement harmed Bursa’s identity tremendously and caused a lot of turmoil since none of the parties involved is content with the end product. We try to elaborate on the process and the role of various actors in shaping it. Turkey does not have a rich urban design experience although successful projects are seen in high-income housing settlements. We conclude that it is timely to start with a new approach to the discipline to prevent such failures with large impacts on the urban form and life. The need for a holistic approach seems imperative to establish the core of a new urban design discipline involving socio-spatial concerns. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Encountering the Urban Crisis: The Gezi Event and the Politics of Urban Design

This article addresses an experimental urban design studio conducted in Bilkent University in Ankara, which problematized the protests that initially started in Gezi Park in Istanbul and shook Turkey in the summer of 2013. As will be argued in detail below, we claim that the Gezi event represents an urban crisis. The particular event was the rapid escalation of a small protest against the destruction of a public space into a nationwide anti-government insurrection. But it also represented a larger urban crisis: the increasing influence of neoliberalism on the city, as the protests were the outcome of a period marked by zealous commodification of urban space. In both instances, such urban conflicts have to be addressed by urban designers, since they produce the renewal projects that gentrify urban spaces and, at the same time, seek possible alternatives for a better urban environment. © 2016, Copyright Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture