Fall 2009 GSD 4405

ISTANBUL: FROM IMPERIAL CAPITAL TO GLOBAL CITY

Course information: Lecture/seminar, Thursdays 11:30-2:30, Gund Hall 109 Instructor: Sibel Bozdogan, sbozdoga@gsd.harvard.edu, sibelb@rcn.com TA: Aylin Yildirim, yildirim@gsd.harvard.edu Office hours: By appointment (please e-mail for appointment) Host to the 2009 Urban Age Conference and selected as the 2010 Culture Capital of Europe, Istanbul has been attracting a lot of scholarly and media attention recently. Given the complexity of its historical, cultural and geographical layers, it is a city that resists any easy categorization into typological abstractions like European city, Islamic city, Mediterranean city or global city. Hybrid and fragmented, it continues to defy all attempts to give it morphological coherence and poses formidable challenges to design professionals. This lecture/seminar course offers a historical overview of these complexities, looking at Istanbuls urban/architectural transformations in the last two centuries and situating these within both the historical dynamics of modern Turkey and the broader trans-national context of the region and the world at large. In a chronological sequence of lectures, four distinct periods will be covered, marked by important political-social-cultural shifts, corresponding to visible changes in citys macro form, skyline, shoreline and overall urban landscape: 1) piecemeal reforms in urban administration, infrastructure and transportation in the late Ottoman period; 2) early republican imprint of the 1930s and 1940s: the master plan of Henri Prost and the new public spaces of secular modernity; 3) post-WWII high modernist urban interventions and the onset of massive migration, speculative apartment boom and squatter developments transforming Istanbul from a shore 1

city to a hinterland city and 4) branding of Istanbul as a global city since the 1980s: transnational spaces of consumption, gated communities and suburban sprawl. Lectures will be supplemented by discussion of selected readings; lecture outlines, assigned readings and further bibliography will be posted on the course web site every week. COURSE REQUIREMENTS: The lectures will present synchronic historical developments in chronological sequence; yet, the cumulative objective of these lectures is to provoke a diachronic understanding of Istanbuls physical transformation over time. For this purpose, I have identified six themes for closer investigation and students will have the option to choose any one of these six themes to work on: Macroform: metropolitan boundaries, urban sprawl, shore versus hinterland etc. Morphology: density, solid-void, figure-ground, object-fabric, built areas-green spaces Shoreline: waters edges, public versus private access, beaches, landfills, coastal roads Skyline: panorama, silhouette, topography, ridges, valleys, landmarks Infrastructure: connectivity, modes and nodes of transportation, arteries, bridges, ports Industry: industrial zones, factories, shipyards; focus on the Golden Horn Students are expected to contribute to the course by researching one of these themes and making site-specific investigations, using historical research and/or formal analysis. I will be available to offer research help, resources and documentation. Distribution of course credits will be as follows: 1) Weekly readings and participation in class discussions [20%] Each week, one or two students will be responsible to briefly present the reading(s) and to summarize the key issues and themes introduced 2) Four short review essays during the semester [20%] These short review essays (2 pages maximum), due on 9/30, 10/14, 10/28 and 11/11, should give a brief overview of what the lectures and the readings have revealed about the students selected themes in the four historical periods respectively. The purpose is to build up a draft outline of the final paper/project in a piecemeal fashion over the course of the semester. 3) Final paper/project [60% total --20% class presentation; 40% final submission] Students are expected to conclude their thematic research in the form of: 3a) either a site-specific history-theory paper focusing on a specific object of study, addressing some aspect of their selected theme 3b) or an urban analysis/representation project (using mapping, analytical drawings, graphs, photographs, collages, animation etc) visualizing their research on their selected theme. These should be submitted in digital form as well as print outs Final products should be developed in consultation with the instructor and students should present them to the class for feedback during the final weeks of the semester. Final papers/projects will be due the last days of the final exam week at the end of the semester.

CLASS SCHEDULE:
September 2: Introduction: Istanbul in recent scholarship and current debates [Course structure, logistics and study groups/themes] Film: Istanbul documentaries, Samy Halfon, 1961 Imperial City and Its Fragments; Continuities and Ruptures Historical background: Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman Istanbul Film: The historical peninsula of Istanbul, 2009-excerpts New Urban and Aesthetic Sensibilities in the 18th Century Picturesque, panoramic and topographical representations of the city Urban Modernization in late Empire into World War I Infrastructure: industrialization efforts, electricity and transportation Stagnation and Renewal during the Early Republic Henri Prosts 1939 Master Plan: connecting the dispersed city Urbanism and Public Space as the Showcase of Modernity Secularization and citizenship: espaces libres, parks, promenades, beaches Film: excerpts from a 1928 documentary of Taksim Garden Populist Modernity and Urban Interventions of the 1950s High modernist urbanism: demolitions, new roads, Americanization Sprawl and Informality: from shore city to hinterland city Migration and informality: gecekondu and speculative apartments Urban Landscapes/Architectures of Global Modernity after 1980 From populist to neo-liberal economic policies: brandscapes Urban Politics and Public Controversy under the AKP since 2002 Metropolitan expansion, edge cities and gated residential developments Veterans Day [class if needed] Student Presentations Thanksgiving [no class] Student Presentations Final papers/projects due

September 9:

September 16:

September 23:

September 30:

October 7:

October 14:

October 21:

October 28:

November 4:

November 11: November 18: November 25 December 2: December 18:

WEEKLY TOPICS/RELATED READINGS: [Further resources will be posted each week] September 2: Introduction: Istanbul in recent scholarship and current debates Historiographic issues in the study of cities in peripheral geographies: traditional frameworks of art/architecture/urban history versus new, interdisciplinary approaches Zeynep Celik, "New Approaches to the "Non-Western" City", JSAH 58, no. 3, September 1999, pp. 374-81 Recent studies of Istanbul: Celik (1986), Kuban (1996), Keyder (1999), Hamadeh (2008), Gul (2009), Kafescioglu (2009), Urban Age Newspaper (2009), Gokturk, Soysal and Tureli (2010) Deniz Gokturk, Levent Soysal and Ipek Tureli, Introduction in Orienting Istanbul: Cultural Capital of Europe? New York: Routledge, 2010, pp.1-22 Modern transformations in Istanbul in the context of four periods of Turkish modernity Caglar Keyder, A brief history of modern Istanbul, in R.Kasaba ed. Turkey in the Modern World, Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp.504-523 September 9: Imperial City and Its Fragments; Continuities and Ruptures Historical background: Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman Istanbul Istanbul in film, literature and popular imaginary: orientalism, westernization, nostalgia, identity Cigdem Kafescioglu, Epilogue: a picture from circa 1537 in Constantinopolis/Istanbul: Cultural Encounter, Imperial Vision and the Construction of the Ottoman Capital, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009, pp.207-226 Orhan Pamuk, Chapter on Huzun in Istanbul: Memories and the City, New York: Alfred A Knopf, 2005, pp. 90-107 Engin F.Isin, The Soul of a City: Huzun, Keyif, Longing in D.Gokturk et.al ed. Orienting Istanbul: Cultural Capital of Europe? New York: Routledge, 2010, pp.35-47 September 16: New Urban and Aesthetic Sensibilities in the 18th Century Early modernity: visibility, transparency, water fountains, urban space, rise of leisure class Focus on Kagithane valley and Bosporus picturesque, panoramic, topographic representations Shirine Hamadeh, Ottoman Expressions of Early Modernity and the Inevitable Question of Westernization, JSAH, March 2004, 63/1, pp.32-51 Orhan Pamuk, Mellings Bosporus Landscapes in Istanbul: Memories and the City, New York: Alfred A Knopf, 2005, pp.62-75 Ignace Melling, Voyage Pittoresque de Constantinople et de Rives du Bosphore, Paris, 1819 [Reprint Istanbul 1969] -for browsing the engravings Emel Ardaman, Perspective and Istanbul, the Capital of the Ottoman Empire, Journal of Design History, vol.20, n.2, pp.109-130 September 23: Urban Modernization in late Empire into World War I Infrastructure, industry, electricity, gas, railway, tram lines and ferries; related buildings 4

Survey maps: Charles Goad, 1905 and Alman Mavileri, 1911 Focus on Galata-Pera and Golden Horn Feshane, Silahtaraga, Tersane Murat Gul, Chapters 1 and 2 in The Emergence of Modern Istanbul: transformation and modernization of a city, London and New York: I.B.Tauris, 2009, pp.7-71 Zeynep Celik, The Remaking of Istanbul: Portrait of an Ottoman City in the 19th Century. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1986, pp.82-103 Pierre Pinon, The Parceled City: Istanbul in the XIXth Century, Rethinking XIXth Century City, ed. A. Petruccioli, Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, 1998, pp.45-64 Sibel Bozdogan, First Moderns, Chapter 1 in Modernism and Nation Building: Turkish architectural culture in the early republic, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001, pp.16-55 Abdulhamid II Photograph Albums (1893) for browsing on the web
http://biblioteca.universia.net/html_bura/verColeccion/params/id/6805.html http://rapiddigger.com/album-of-sultan-abdulhamid-ii-rar-6471552.html [download site]

September 30: Stagnation and Renewal during the Early Republic City shrinking in population and economy in the 1920s; fire swept sites, insurance maps Henri Prosts 1939 Master Plan --connecting the dispersed city; idea of urban aesthetic Metropolitan backbone: Yenikapi-Aksaray-Unkapani-Sishane-Taksim-Sisli Cana Bilsel, Henri Prosts Planning Works in Istanbul in P.Pinon and C.Bilsel ed. From the Imperial Capital to the Republican Modern City: Henri Prosts Planning of Istanbul 1936-1951, Istanbul: Istanbul Arastirmalari Enstitusu, 2010, pp.73-167 Murat Gul, Chapters 3 and 4 in The Emergence of Modern Istanbul, London and New York: I.B.Tauris, 2009, pp.72-126 Theo Leveau, Istanbul, in Loeuvre de Henri Prost, Architecture et Urbanisme, Paris: Academie de Architecture, 1960, pp.183-208 Musemma Sabancioglu, Jacques Pervititch and His Insurance Maps of Istanbul, Dubrovnik Annals, n.7, 2003, pp.89-98 Sibel, Bozdoan, "The Legacy of an Istanbul Architect: Type, Context, and Urban Identity in the Work of Sedad Eldem" in Modern Architecture and the Mediterranean: Vernacular Dialogues and Contested Identities, edited by Jean-Francois Lejeune and Michelangelo Sabatino, London, New York: Routledge, 2010, pp.141-156 October 7: Urbanism and Public Space as the Showcase of Modernity Secularization and citizenship: espaces libres, parks, promenades, monuments Henri Prosts Archaeological Park, Taksim Square and Park No.2 Public recreation: beaches, swimming pools, casinos and Marmara resorts Cana Bilsel, Espaces Libres: parks, promenades, public squares in P.Pinon and C.Bilsel ed. From the Imperial Capital to the Republican Modern City, 2010, pp.349-380 Neyran Turan, Geographic Istanbul: episodes in the history of a citys relationship with its landscape, GSD DDes Dissertation, 2009, Chapter 2 5

-------- Cumhuriyet Devrinde Istanbul [Istanbul in the Republican period], photography album, Istanbul, 1949 ---------Guzellesen Istanbul [Beautification of Istanbul], official publication with photos, Istanbul: Maarif Matbaasi, 1943 October 14: Populist Modernity and Urban Interventions of the 1950s Menderes years: demolitions, new roads, high modernist urbanism, Americanization Modern architecture and new residential suburbs: Yesilkoy, Atakoy, Levent Ipek Akpinar, The Making of a Modern Payitaht in Istanbul: Menderes executions after the Prost Plan, in P.Pinon and C.Bilsel ed. From the Imperial Capital to the Republican Modern City, 2010, pp.167-201 Murat Gul, Chapters 5 and 6 in The Emergence of Modern Istanbul, London and New York: I.B.Tauris, 2009, pp. 127-171 Sibel Bozdogan, Democracy, Development and the Americanization of Turkish Architectural Culture in the 1950s, S.Isenstadt and K.Rizvi eds. Modernism and the Middle East, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2008, pp.116-138 Annabel Wharton, Building the Cold War: Hilton International Hotels and Modern Architecture, University of Chicago Press, 2001, pp.13-38 ---------Istanbul Albumu [Istanbul Album], Istanbul: Milli Egitim Basimevi, 1952 ---------Istanbulun Kitabi [The Book of Istanbul], Istanbul: Nesriyat ve Turizm Mudurlugu, 1957 October 21: Sprawl and Informality: from shore city to hinterland city Migration from rural Anatolia and informal sector; gecekondu developments Bosporus bridges and ring roads; expansion into hinterland; speculative apartment boom Caglar Keyder, The housing market from informal to global in Istanbul between the Global and the Local, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1999, pp.143-159 Kemal Karpat, The Gecekondu: Rural Migration and Urbanization, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976 Tansi Senyapili, New Problems/Old Solutions: A Look at the Gecekondu in the Urban Space, in Housing and Settlement in Anatolia: a historical perspective, Istanbul History Foundation: Habitat II Publication, 1996, pp.345-354 Murat Balamir, Making Cities of Apartment Blocks: transformation of the built environment in Turkey by means of the reorganization of property rights, in Housing and Settlement in Anatolia: a historical perspective, Istanbul History Foundation: Habitat II Publication, 1996, pp.335-344 Michael Danielson and Rusen Keles, The Politics of Rapid Urbanization : Government and Growth in Modern Turkey, New York: Holmes & Meier, 1985 Geetam Tiwari, Informality and its Discontents in R.Burdett and D.Sudjic eds., The Endless City: The Urban Age Project, London: Phaidon, 2007, pp.348-351 N.AlSayyad and A.Roy eds, Urban Informality : Transnational perspectives from the middle east, latin america, and south asia, Lexington Books/Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of California at Berkeley, 2004

October 28: Urban Landscapes and Architectures of Global Modernity after 1980 From populist to neo-liberal economic policies: from production to service sector Changes in skyline and macro form; brandscapes and themed environments -------- Istanbul: City of Intersections, Urban Age Newspaper 2006, accessible at http://www.urban-age.net/conferences/istanbul/ Ricky Burdett and Deyan Sudjic eds., The Endless City: The Urban Age Project, London: Phaidon, 2007 Arif Dirlik, Architectures of Global Modernity: Colonialism and Places, Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, v.17, n.1, Spring 2005, pp.33-61 Caglar Keyder, Istanbul into the 21st Century in D.Gokturk et.al ed. Orienting Istanbul: Cultural Capital of Europe? New York: Routledge, 2010, pp.25-34 Asu Aksoy and Kevin Robbins, Istanbul between Civilization and Discontent, New Perspectives on Turkey, n.10, 1994, pp.57-74 Dikmen Bezmez, "The Politics of Urban Waterfront Regeneration: The Case of the Golden Horn, Istanbul." International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 32, no. 4, 2008, pp.815840 Ipek, Tureli, "Modelling Citizenship in Turkeys Miniature Park" in Orienting Istanbul: Cultural Capital of Europe? 2010, pp.105-125 Pelin Dervis ed. Becoming Istanbul: an encyclopedia, Istanbul: Garanti Galeri, 2008 entries on shopping centers, biennale, skyscraper, gentrification November 4: Urban Politics and Public Controversy under the AKP since 2002 Urban regeneration schemes: state sponsored gentrification by TOKI Metropolitan expansion: edge cities and gated residential developments Ozlem Unsal and Tuna Kuyucu, Challenging the Neoliberal Urban Regime: regeneration and resistance in Basibuyuk and Tarlabasi in Deniz Gokturk, Levent Soysal and Ipek Tureli ed., Orienting Istanbul: cultural capital of Europe?, 2010, pp.51-71 Ayfer Bartu, and Biray Kolluolu. "Emerging Spaces of Neoliberalism: A Gated Town and a Public Housing Project in Istanbul" New Perspectives on Turkey, no. 39 (2008): 5-46. Serife Genis, Producing Elite Localities: the rise of gated communities in Istanbul, Urban Studies, April 2007, v.44, pp.771-798 Nil Uzun, Globalization and Urban Governance in Istanbul, Journal of Housing and Built Environment, v.22, n.1, March 2007, pp.127-138 Anna Secor, There is an Istanbul that Belongs to me: Citizenship, Space and Identity in the City, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, v.94, n.2, June 2004, pp.352368 Amy Mills, Boundaries of the Nation in the Space of the Urban: landscape and social memory in Istanbul, Cultural Geographies, v.13, n.367, 2006, pp. 367-394

BASIC RESOURCES:
Books: BILSEL, Cana and PINON, Pierre ed. Henri Prosts Planning of Istanbul 1936-1951, Istanbul: Istanbul Arastirmalari Enstitusu, 2010 CELIK, Zeynep, The Remaking of Istanbul: Portrait of an Ottoman City in the 19th Century. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1986 DERVIS, Pelin ed. Becoming Istanbul: an encyclopedia, Istanbul: Garanti Galeri Yayinlari, 2008 GOKTURK, Deniz; SOYSAL, Levent and TURELI, Ipek ed., Orienting Istanbul: cultural capital of Europe? New York: Routledge, 2010 GUL, Murat, The Emergence of Modern Istanbul: transformation and modernization of a city, London and New York: I.B.Tauris, 2009 HAMADEH, Shirine, The Citys Pleasures: Istanbul in the 18th Century. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2008 ISIN, Ekrem. Everyday Life in Istanbul: Social Historical Essays on People, Culture and Spatial Relations. Istanbul: Yap Kredi, 2001. KAFESCIOGLU, Cigdem, Constantinopolis/Istanbul: Cultural Encounter, Imperial Vision and the Construction of the Ottoman Capital, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009 KEYDER, Caglar, ed. Istanbul: Between the Global and the Local, Lanham Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999 KUBAN, Dogan, Istanbul: An Urban History, Istanbul: The Economic and Social History Foundation of Turkey, 1996 MILLS, Amy, Streets of Memory: Landscape, Tolerance, and National Identity in Istanbul. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2010.

Maps and Other: Charles Edourad Goadin Istanbul Sigorta Haritalari, (ed. Irfan Dagdelen) Istanbul: Istanbul Buyuksehir Belediyesi, 2007 Alman Mavileri 1913-1914: Birinci Dunya Savasi Oncesi Istanbul Haritalari, (German Blue Maps 1913-1914: Maps of Istanbul before World War I), Istanbul Buyuksehir Belediyesi Kutuphaneler ve Muzeler Mudurlugu, 2006-2007 Jacques Pervititch Sigorta Haritalarinda Istanbul (Istanbul in the Insurance Maps of Jacques Pervititich), Istanbul: Tarih Vakfi Yayinlari, 2003 Cahit Kayra ed. Eski stanbul'un Eski Haritalar( Old Maps of Old Istanbul), stanbul Bykehir Belediyesi Kltr leri Dairesi Bakanl, 1990 I. Akpinar, From Secularization to Turkish Modernization: the rebuilding of Istanbul after the plan of Henri Prost, 1937-1960. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Bartlett School, University of London, 2003 Abdulhamid II Photograph Albums (1893)
http://biblioteca.universia.net/html_bura/verColeccion/params/id/6805.html http://rapiddigger.com/album-of-sultan-abdulhamid-ii-rar-6471552.html [download site]

Istanbul: City of Intersections, Urban Age Newspaper, 2009 http://www.urban-age.net/conferences/istanbul/