ISTANBUL'S BOSTANS: A MILLENNIUM OF MARKET GARDENS*

ABSTRACT. For centuries, a network of market gardens throughout Istanbul provisioned the city with fresh vegetables. These bostans and their gardeners held a respected place in Istanbul life, contributing to the city's food and employment needs. Today, only fragments remain. Massive urban development, intense competition for metropolitan space, modernization, changing institutions and laws, and the global industrialization of food have threatened this tradition with extinction. But in spite of the overwhelming forces behind their demise, some of Istanbul's bostans persist. Efforts to support and promote the gardens, and to draw from the expertise and experience of their gardeners, are emerging. From a historical perspective, this article examines Istanbul's bostans to understand their meaning and contribution to the city's people and landscape.     

“Belonging” in the gentrified Golden Horn/Halic neighbourhoods of Istanbul

Mainstream gentrification research predominantly examines experiences and motivations of the middle-class gentrifier groups, while overlooking experiences of non-gentrifying groups including the impact of in situ local processes on gentrification itself. In this paper, I discuss gentrification, neighbourhood belonging and spatial distribution of class in Istanbul by examining patterns of belonging both of gentrifiers and non-gentrifying groups in historic neighbourhoods of the Golden Horn/Halic. I use multiple correspondence analysis (MCA), a methodology rarely used in gentrification research, to explore social and symbolic borders between these two groups. I show how gentrification leads to spatial clustering by creating exclusionary practices and eroding social cohesion, and illuminate divisions that are inscribed into the physical space of the neighbourhood.     

Earthquake risk and its mitigation in Istanbul

Physical and societal vulnerability to earthquakes and expected physical, social, economic, and industrial losses in Istanbul are outlined. This risk quantification has served as the basis for the Earthquake Masterplan. Risk-mitigation activity that was, and is, being conducted by several agencies and in different context and sectors are elaborated.     

Application of logistic regression for landslide susceptibility zoning of Cekmece Area, Istanbul, Turkey

As a result of industrialization, throughout the world, cities have been growing rapidly for the last century. One typical example of these growing cities is Istanbul, the population of which is over 10 million. Due to rapid urbanization, new areas suitable for settlement and engineering structures are necessary. The Cekmece area located west of the Istanbul metropolitan area is studied, because the landslide activity is extensive in this area. The purpose of this study is to develop a model that can be used to characterize landslide susceptibility in map form using logistic regression analysis of an extensive landslide database. A database of landslide activity was constructed using both aerial-photography and field studies. About 19.2% of the selected study area is covered by deep-seated landslides. The landslides that occur in the area are primarily located in sandstones with interbedded permeable and impermeable layers such as claystone, siltstone and mudstone. About 31.95% of the total landslide area is located at this unit. To apply logistic regression analyses, a data matrix including 37 variables was constructed. The variables used in the forwards stepwise analyses are different measures of slope, aspect, elevation, stream power index (SPI), plan curvature, profile curvature, geology, geomorphology and relative permeability of lithological units. A total of 25 variables were identified as exerting strong influence on landslide occurrence, and included by the logistic regression equation. Wald statistics values indicate that lithology, SPI and slope are more important than the other parameters in the equation. Beta coefficients of the 25 variables included the logistic regression equation provide a model for landslide susceptibility in the Cekmece area. This model is used to generate a landslide susceptibility map that correctly classified 83.8% of the landslide-prone areas.     

Monitoring urban growth on the European side of the Istanbul metropolitan area: A case study

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey with an area of around 5750 km² and a population of around 10.8 M (2000). In 1980, the population was only around 4.7 M and so has more than doubled in only 2 decades. In 2000, around 65% of the population were living on the European side of the city with its large industrial/commercial and trade centres. The population is increasing as a result of both births exceeding deaths and mass immigration. Consequently, planned and unplanned housing are increasing while green areas are decreasing in area. Monitoring urban growth will enable the Municipality of Istanbul to better manage this complex urban area.     

Discrete emergence of neoliberal policies on public space: an informal Business Improvement District in Istanbul,Turkey

This article investigates the birth and evolution of a Business Improvement District (BID) in Talimhane, Istanbul, which is the first case of use of this instrument of neoliberal governance in the Turkish city. The distinctive nature of the Talimhane BID consists in the fact that it has been developed through a series of informal and piecemeal arrangements. The article first reviews the evolution, characteristics, and critical aspects of BIDs. It then focuses on the case study of this “informal BID” in Talimhane, analysing its origins, features, and outcomes. The informal nature of this BID is stressed as a key factor in understanding its features and outcomes, and it emerges as a fundamental component of urban neoliberalism in Turkey: it allows a centralized and authoritarian government to maintain complete control over public space and private actors and activities, while promoting a process of devolving powers in favour of the private sector.     

Spatio-temporal modelling of informal settlement development in Sancaktepe district, Istanbul, Turkey

In less developed countries, the recent high rates of urban expansion are often associated with the emergence of informal settlements that may exaggerate social and environmental problems and impede sustainable development. An enhanced understanding of informal development may, therefore, be a key for future success in its effective management. This paper explores the possibilities offered by progress in Geo-Information Science and spatial modelling to improve understanding of informal settlement development through comprehensive spatio-temporal analyses. First, it investigates spatial and temporal patterns of the growth of the informal settlements in Sancaktepe district of Istanbul between 1990 and 2005. Second, using a logistic regression model, an analysis of the driving forces of informal development and prediction of probable locations of new informal settlements are performed. A list of spatial factors that are correlated to informal development is compiled and used to build six logistic regression models for different time steps between 1990 and 2005. Population density, slope, and proportion of informal settlements in the neighbourhood were found to be the main predictors influencing the spatial development of informal settlements during the study period. The performance of the models is evaluated and validated to identify those which best explain the informal development in the study area. As a result, three models built for 1990-1995 and 1995-2000 were selected to generate probability maps of informal settlement development, showing the likelihood for each location to be informally developed in the future. These results can be used as a basis for the evaluation of the process of informal development in other parts of Istanbul, as well as in other cities and countries. At the same time, the technique may serve as a decision-making tool for urban planners and policy makers.     

Istanbul Earthquake Rapid Response System: Methods and practices

Potential impact of large earthquakes on urban societies can be reduced by timely and correct action after a disastrous earthquake. Modern technology permits measurements of strong ground shaking in near real-time for urban areas exposed to earthquake risk. The Istanbul Earthquake Rapid Response System equipped with 100 instruments and two data processing centers aims at the near real time estimation of earthquake damages using most recently developed methodologies and up-to-date structural and demographic inventories of Istanbul city. The methodology developed for near real time estimation of losses after a major earthquake consists of the following general steps: (1) rapid estimation of the ground motion distribution using the strong ground motion data gathered from the instruments; (2) improvement of the ground motion estimations as earthquake parameters become available and (3) estimation of building damage and casualties based on estimated ground motions and intensities. The present paper elaborates on the ground motion and damage estimation methodologies used by the Istanbul Earthquake Rapid Response System with a special emphasis on validation and verification of the different methods.     

Globalizing Polycentricity in Istanbul: Mamdani-Type Fuzzy Rule-Based Model of CBD Office Space Rents

For some two millennia Istanbul has been one of the world's greatest cities, and is today classified as an "Alpha-" world city in the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) group's 2010 rankings. Istanbul is an emerging global city that is facilitating Turkey's transnational integration into the global economy, and as of June 2009 the city had the second largest office stock among all Southeast European countries. This paper investigates the determinants of office rent levels in the city's Central Business District (CBD) and the spatial variation of rents in a polycentric metropolis. The paper uses a stepwise regression and a Mamdani-type fuzzy rule-based model to estimate office space rents, and compares empirical results with those of a conventional OLS regression analysis. Rents are driven not only by physical characteristics and locational services, but also the terms of lease contracts. New CBD locations that command the highest rents on spacious, high-rise office spaces with comparatively few employees conform well with contemporary accounts of world-city financial districts, and confirm the significance of urban office infrastructures for globally oriented financial elites beyond the familiar roster of Global North world cities. The traditional center retains the core purpose identified nearly a century ago, in Marshall's analysis of centralization during the most vibrant period of the industrial age. Despite all the transformations of transnational urbanist polycentricity, the traditional CBD is still the place with the most diverse mix of activities, and the greatest variation in rents.     

Site characterization by seismic noise in Istanbul,Turkey

Single station seismic noise measurements were carried out at 192 sites in the western part of Istanbul, Turkey. This extensive survey allowed the fundamental resonance frequency of the sedimentary cover to be mapped, and identify areas prone to site amplification. The results are in good agreement with the geological distribution of sedimentary units, indicating a progressive decrease of the fundamental resonance frequencies from the northeastern part, where the bedrock outcrops, towards the southwestern side, where a thickness of some hundreds meters for the sedimentary cover is estimated. The particular distribution of fundamental resonance frequencies indicates that local amplification of the ground motion might play a significative role in explaining the anomalous damage distribution after the 17 August 1999 Kocaeli Earthquake.