DEBATE ON TOUR IN ISTANBUL, TURKEY: ECOLOGY AND URBAN GROWTH

How can architects and planners, activists and policymakers contribute to the ecological balance of the city in the rapidly urbanising metropolitan periphery? In collaboration with the International Architectural Biennale of Rotterdam (IABR), the Istanbul Bilgi University, SALT and Urban4, the NAI is organising a second debate in Istanbul on 13 June 2011. Having discussed the practices of resident participation in urban regeneration projects during a first Debate on Tour in December 2010, the focus of this second debate will be ecological landscapes, comparing projects and policies in the Netherlands and Istanbul.

Ecology and Urban Growth

Cities which are on a trajectory of growth and development place huge pressure on their immediate agricultural perimeters, leading to a rapid transformation of the agricultural economy and landscape. This kind of productive landscape is often part and parcel of watershed and forest areas, and the pressures of urbanisation often mean that the lifelines of the cities are cut off, at least in terms of their ecological sustainability. In cases where urbanisation is swift with underdeveloped mechanisms for planning and control, the threat to the non-urban peripheries is greater.
As UN Habitat argues, ‘Urbanization is a process that changes the uses of land and by creating impervious surfaces, filling wetlands and fragmenting ecosystems, it has disproportional impacts upon the carbon cycle.’ As cities expand they encroach on land with the potential to absorb CO2 emissions, putting stress on watersheds, forests and farmland that underpin the ecological balance of the city.

 

Istanbul and the Randstad

In this debate we aim to address the issue of achieving ecological sustainability under conditions of mega urban growth. We will be asking whether the city can achieve ecologically sound growth through innovative design and governance, thus contributing to the lowering of emissions. We shall take Istanbul and the Randstad as our case studies. The Randstad case is important from the point of view of the lessons that can be drawnin terms of sustainable planning and governance strategies in a growing regional urban conurbation. For Istanbul, the debate will examine the case of Arnavutköy Municipality. Almost half of the area it covers is agricultural land that, together with the forests and many small lakes, forms a rich and diversified ecological system. With a fast growing population, the area is suffering from deforestation and often unplanned occupation of land.

 

Collaboration with the IABR

The 5th IABR, entitled Making City, has selected three test sites in Istanbul, Rotterdam and São Paulo where it will actively engage in the practice of city-making. The outlying Municipality of Arnavutköy is the Istanbul test site. The biennale and the municipality have commissioned H+N+S Landscape Architects to carry out research by design for the Arnavutköy Spatial Development Strategic Vision and Action Plan. Dirk Sijmons of H+N+S will explain more about this during the debate.
By collaborating with the IABR, the NAI Debates on Tour programme aims to incorporate the knowledge exchange among its selected stakeholders, speakers and audience into a more wide-ranging research and design trajectory. The 5th IABR will culminate in an exhibition in Rotterdam, due to open in April 2012.

Speakers:

• Ugur Inan
  Director of the Urban Planning Department, Istanbul Municipality ‘Growing Ecological Problems in Istanbul and Planning Approaches’
• Ozdemir Sonmez
  Planning Coordinator, Istanbul Metropolitan Planning and Urban Design Centre
  ‘Growth and Ecological Equilibrium in Istanbul’
• Arjen van der Burg
  Advisor for International Affairs, Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment
  ‘The Green Heart and ecological concerns in the Netherlands’
• Zeynep Enlil
  Professor, Yildiz Technical University (moderator)
• Cem Celik
  Architect and urban planner, Faculty of Architecture, Bilgi University
  ‘Urban Farming and Ecological Sustainability: Case of Arnavutkoy’
• Dirk Sijmons
  Landscape architect, founding partner ofH+S+N Landscape Architects and Professor of Environmental Design at the Chair of Landscape, Delft University of Technology
  ‘Ecological Urban Design Approaches: Cases from the Netherlands’
• Gulnur Kadayifci
  Director of Planning and Projects, Arnavutkoy Municipality (moderator)
• Bart Pijnenburg
  Expert on urban agriculture, Mensenland
  ’Strategies for Urban Farming: Examples from the Netherlands’
• Baris Gencer Baykan
  Center for Economic and Social Research, Bahcesehir University
  ’An evaluation on urban farming in Istanbul’
• Omer Madra
  Producer, Acik Radyo (moderator)

The event’s curators, Chris Luth, Asu Aksoy, and Ceren Sezer, will give an introduction to the debate.

Collaborating partners

Netherlands Architecture Institute (Chris Luth, curator and event management)
International Architecture Biennale of Rotterdam (Asu Aksoy, curator)
Urban4 (Ceren Sezer, curator)
SALT Beyoglu (Vasif Kortun and Meric Oner, venue management)

With the support of Istanbul Bilgi University
and the Netherlands Consulate General