Istanbul, Open City ─ Exhibiting Anxieties of Urban Modernity

Following recent postcolonial calls towards a comparative urbanism which decouples the understanding of the modern from its privileged association with the West, this books examines Istanbul in the post-war period. In doing so, it brings fresh insights on urban modernity by highlighting the diverse and shifting ways Istanbulites define themselves while debating, imagining and building their city and the cultural creativity in which this results. Focusing on a series of exhibitionary sites: of print and photography; advertising and film; exhibitions, museums and theme parks, and also on the links between the public media through shared practices of representation, this book argues that Istanbul can provide a comprehensive model on contemporary urban life around the world which can broaden current theoretical thinking about cities. In particular, it argues that the city has been 'staged' by competing power bases and that underlying all the sites analysed is a desire to shape the public through culture and create urbanite citizens. As Turkey strives to accomplish its long-standing goal of joining the European Union, images and imaginings of the city continue to acquire new and complex significance. It is therefore an ideal case study in which to proffer a couple of interwoven arguments about the relationships between urban representations, the production of subjectivity, and built form that are applicable to other cities.

Dr. Ipek TA?reli, School of Architecture, Brown University, USA