ISTANBUL WORKSHOP summer 1993: Chiasmaticity, case 1, Istanbul The workshop's site -at-large is the phenomenon of the 'Giant City' and its pathologies at the turn of the 21st century. 'UN projections indicate that there will be 511 metropolises exceeding a million inhabitants by 2010. thereafter, more that 40 such metropolises will be added every five years. Before the children born in 1985 become adults half of the world's population will be urban, and half of this half will be located in metropolises with over a million inhabitants.'( The Metropolis Era, Vol. 1, A World of Giant Cities, chapter 1, M. Dogan)
Together with this hyper-accelerated growth / multiplication there is a proliferation of transportation / information technologies. In which specific ways are these two tendencies interrelated? What are the transformative effects of the transportation / information technologies on the city as a physical entity? How and where can these effects be manipulated / controlled?
'23 of the 35 world's largest urban agglomerations in 1950 were located in more developed countries. By 1985, the distribution had completely reversed with 23 of the 35 largest urban agglomerations found in less developed countries. UN projections indicate that at the turn of the 21st century, 17 of the world's 20 largest metropolises will be in developing nations.'
The workshop's designated 'case' is Istanbul. It was founded as the grek Byzantion, later became the capital of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, as Constantinople and Istanbul, and since the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923 has been replaced by Ankara as the capital, though it still remains the cultural and economic 'center' of the country.
Its geographic location - it is the only city to be settled on two continents, thus occupying the chiasmic condition of eurasien land and waterways (east / west and north / south) - is in many ways emblematic. It occupies the place 'between'.
Istanbul's idiosyncratic blend of oriental heritage / western influence, islamic / secular practices and indigenous / imported cultures has formed the particular and particularly hybrid states that are of interest to this workshop. The operative premise of the workshop will be the processal / distributive aspects of urbanity generated by new technologies. It proposes a reinterpretation of urban design as a series of network strategies implemented through precise local operations and limited situational interventions that support and extend existing practices.
This is the home page of the Istanbul - Chiasmati City project. A collection of text, images and video of Istanbul Turkiye
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