Urban Transformation and Resistance in Tarlabaşı: The Politics of Delayed Construction in Istanbul

Please Note: The City of Vancouver, where this interview was conducted, is on the unceded territories of three First Nations: the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh

This interview is about Istanbul’s Tarlabaşı neighborhood, where a decade-long urban transformation project continues to shape politics of the city, impacts the lives of residents, and reveals the political economy of Turkish construction businesses. Alize Arıcan tells us about her award-winning research on how delays shift power dynamics between builders and politicians, and how communities living around the construction site make use of these delays to remain in the neighborhood. She argues that delays should be understood not as failures of urban transformation, but as generating new forms of accumulation and dispossession, as well as resistance to these processes. As plans for residential luxury buildings and business complexes displace neighborhood residents including Kurdish and Roma communities, West African immigrants, Middle Eastern refugees, and trans sex workers, those who are still living in the neighborhood come up with strategies to remain resilient. We talk about a range of issues tied to urban transformation in Turkey’s cities, including: historical landmarking and property expropriation, displacement of marginalized communities who depend on informal economies, long-term relationships between companies and the government, the pervasive practice of subcontracting, and the effects of the current economic downturn.

Resources:

From Home to Real Estate: Urban Redevelopment on the Axis of Speculation in Istanbul: https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/31310/From-Home-to-Real-Estate-Urban-Redevelopment-on-the-Axis-of-Speculation-in-Istanbul

Ekümenopolis and Beyond (Podcast in Turkish with English translation of transcript): http://statushour.com/en/Interview/119

Networks of Disposession: https://burak-arikan.com/networks-of-dispossession/

It is About the Park: A Struggle For Turkey’s Cities: https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/28789

Bio-Istanbul: A Speculative, Segregationist, and Sustainable Urbanism: https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/31785/Bio-Istanbul-A-Speculative,-Segregationist,-and-Sustainable-Urbanism

Meydan Politics: Taksim in Flux After Gezi: https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/32242