gentrification ‹ istanbul travelogue

Istanbulites: Ceren Salman and the city Part:2

In the first part of the interview with the photographer Ceren Salman, we discussed the city's ephemeral past while walking in the streets of Fener, one of the oldest neighbourhoods in the historical peninsula. Here in the second part, we cannot...

Istanbullites: Melis Bilgin and her animated film, Tetrist

It was at Canlandıranlar Animators Festival that I came across Melis Bilgin’s animation, Tetrist. Remember Tetris, the phenomenal video game of the 90s, in which you are supposed to keep building blocks until there is no room left? Melis’ Tetrist...

Street art # 3 Galata

JUST MEMORIES...More than a decade ago, when the words "Galata" and "gentrification" were used in the same sentence, it did not mean much to me; I did not see it coming. There was not a single soul in the back streets, and it would give me a chill ...

Urban Transformation Projects # 3

When the urban projects for regeneration turned out to be true, not a myth, and the demolition for the Tarlabaşı district was confirmed, many people I know rushed to the area to say goodbye, and to make pictures of the buildings soon to be knocked down....

Urban Transformation Projects #2

In the name of regeneration, the old historic neighborhood of Istanbul, Tarlabaşı, will be confined to the memories of Istanbullites very soon. It used to be inhabited mostly by the Greeks since the mid 1800s and by migrants from Anatolia since the 1960s....

Urban Transformation Projects #1

There is this continuous noise wherever you are in the city, which I call the third world noise -not a politically correct way of putting it, but unfortunately you cannot help. Shopping malls not enough. Hotels not enough. Luxury condos not enough. Bridges...

Street Art # 1 Tophane

Graffiti is no longer considered a kind of vandalism, at least in the art world, and the shift from typography to other forms of symbolic expression is clear in Istanbul, too. I came across these ones in a district, which is going through gentrification...

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