What the eye doesn’t see: a national discourse on urban intervention, and Istanbul’s changing landscape

Centre for Turkey Studies Event

The Centre for Turkey Studies is an independent and non-partisan organisation inaugurated in April 2011 with the support of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in London.

We provide an open forum promoting opinions and debates on Turkey and UK relations, foreign affairs, economic issues and social developments in Turkey and the region.

 

What the eye doesn’t see: a national discourse on urban intervention, and Istanbul’s changing landscape

 

Date: Tuesday 26th of February

time: 19pm

Venue: London Metropolitan University, Room No: GSB-01, 16 Goulston ST, London E1 7TP 

Stations: Aldgate and Aldgate East

Turkish urban planning model has long mirrored the country's centralised political framework. At a time of macroeconomic growth, the shape the urban policies will take is crucial for the future of Turkish cities. While natural disaster mitigation and resource management play significant roles, the declarative planning activities seem to continue to be dictated by figures of political power, who invite financial investment with architectural brand names. Is this the right direction for a city, spoiled with impressive urban geology and obscured socio-cultural memory? Atakan Guven, an associate at the urban consultancy firm Space Syntax, and Omer Cavusoglu, project manager at LSE Cities, London School of Economics will lay out the history of planning practice in Turkey since the late-Ottoman era and discuss the recent developments shaping the future of Istanbul.

 

 

Atakan Guven

 

Atakan Guven has over ten years of experience working in the urban policy and intervention field in the UK and the USA. Currently he works as Associate at Space Syntax Ltd, leading on the regional master plan for Jeddah and Mecca.  Previously, he worked at LSE Cities, London School of Economics where he managed a research project comparing the South East of England to the Randstad region of the Netherlands. A native Londoner, being half Turkish, he has lived in Istanbul and Bursa. Currently he is an Honorary Research Associate at UCL’s Bartlett School.

 

 

Omer Cavusoglu

 

Omer Cavusoglu is a researcher and a project coordinator at LSE Cities, London School of Economics and Political Science. Native of Istanbul, he has been living in London for the past 5 years, working on research and publication projects, whilst focusing his personal interest on issues of identity, integration, belonging, urban survival.