Matters of Urban Identity and Disidentification in the Context of Urban Projects, the Case of Istanbul

Abstract

Urban identity is the whole of the concrete and non-concrete qualifications of a city peculiar to itself, and differentiates from other cities with such qualifications. At the present, when globalisation and the results of it are combined with demographic, economic, and social developments, they cause important changes on urban space. Large size urban projects are used as the most important tool in this spatial transformation process. In Turkey, the urban projects prepared and applied without any connection with planning integrity cause important negative impacts on the natural and artificial physical environment and socio-cultural environment which constitute urban identity, and threaten the authenticity and integrity of urban identity. Out of the projects which are on the agenda of Istanbul, the city where this process is experienced densely and fast at the top level, the Taksim Pedestrianisation Project, the Tarlabagi Project, the Sulukule Project, the Third Bosphorus Bridge, and the Golden Horn Metro Bridge Project are analysed and assessed within the context of their impacts on urban identity and disidentification.