CULT Seminar:Ayfer Bartu Candan,Biray Kolluoğlu(BU),Leyla Neyzi(SU)

"Emerging Forms of Urban Governance in Istanbul: Urban Fear and Segregation"

“In this presentation we would like explore the emerging forms of urban governance in Istanbul in the context of neoliberal restructuring. Our emphasis will be on the technologies of power that naturalize and legitimize neoliberalism and the ways in which new forms of urban governance enable and legitimize the radical transformation of the city. Our discussion of urban governance will focus on the changes introduced through laws and regulations, and the new language that the urban government appropriates and adopts. We will argue that urban fear, embedded into a web of anxieties about immigration, population increase and earthquake plays a central role in this process of naturalization and legitimation. In the second part of the presentation, we will discuss the localization and privatization of urban governance through the example of Göktürk, a residential area that consists of series of gated communities on the outskirts of the city. Göktürk will emerge as an urban space where the intertwined processes of emerging forms of urban governance, escalating urban fear, and the concomitant social segregation and exclusion are condensed. Finally, we will discuss the implications of these processes for the future of public life in Istanbul.”

Ayfer Bartu Candan & Biray Kolluoğlu Boğaziçi Üniversitesi

“A Showcase for the Global City: The Neighborhood of Teşvikiye in Istanbul”

“In this presentation, I will discuss the emergence of the neighborhood of Teşvikiye as a showcase for the global city of Istanbul. I will begin by outlining the unusual origins of the neighborhood as a planned residence for families close to the royal family which was based on the Bosphorus from the late nineteenth century. I will show how the neighborhood was created by royal decree, and its infrastructure planned and developed. I will argue that the neighborhood came to be associated with an emergent Muslim bourgeoisie. After the capital moved to Ankara, the neighborhood remained a quiet residential area, with apartment buildings replacing Ottoman mansions. It was in the post-1980 period that Teşvikiye experienced a major resurgence, becoming associated with the developing service sector including financial, media, consumer and tourism industries. Residential use decreased, to be replaced by cafes, restaurants, hotels, boutiques, shopping centers and the like. At the same time, real estate prices escalated and new construction projects resulted in the transformation of the face of the neighborhood. On the basis of ethnographic and oral history research, I will focus on changes in everyday life and the meaning of the neighborhood for a heterogeneous population, including old-time residents, those who work in the neighborhood, visitors and new residents. I will argue that as Teşvikiye becomes a showcase for the global city, social inequality increases as does the multiplicity of narratives concerning the history, transformation and contemporary identity of the neighborhood.”

Leyla Neyzi Sabancı Üniversitesi

Tarih: 21 Mayıs 2008

Saat: 15:30

Yer: FASS 2034