Citiwire.net

For Release Sunday, July 25, 2010
Citiwire.net

ISTANBUL — This fabled world city has a remarkable story to tell. Recently the European Union awarded it the highly competitive “European City of Culture 2010,” title, the first for a non-EU member. More important, Istanbul is becoming a viable model for the 21st century megacity — places of 10 million or more inhabitants, likely (cumulatively) by 2050 to house 20 percent of the world’s urban population.

With its 11 million people, Istanbul is the fifth most populous city in the world, following Shanghai, Mumbai, Karachi and Delhi. It’s emblematic of megacities, now largely concentrated in Asia. But it’s no newcomer: it’s been occupied for 8,000 continuous years. It sits in an earthquake zone, it has flood-prone geography and municipal boundaries that span Europe and Asia; the internationally-governed, heavily-trafficked Bosporus River divides its territory.

Huge (5,400 square kilometers) and dense (2,400 people per square kilometer) Istanbul for the last five years has absorbed about 250,000 rural migrants and new babies annually. A stream of fresh population has flowed continuously for the past 50 years at an annual growth rate of 4.5 percent. (For comparison, figures for the largest city in the continental US, Jacksonville, are 2,292 square kilometers [area] and 354 people/square kilometer [density] and 5% [annual growth rate]).

By 1980, Istanbul had been overwhelmed by these changes. It was hard-pressed to offer basic city services. Heavy industries polluted its famed water body, the Golden Horn. Gecekondu (squatters) occupied any vacant land available — the hills, the periphery, the old city, even university campuses.

Today, much has changed. Istanbul has become a world city, praised for its effective modernization. While all is not perfect — colossal traffic congestion and squatter settlements are still present — improvements are tangible. The Golden Horn is cleaned up and bordered by parks and cultural facilities. Housing production for all income groups has exploded, accompanied by increased home ownership rates — now 60 percent — that include former squatters. A new integrated mass transit system is operational with 23 miles of subway completed and more to come. There are surface tramways that connect to heritage sites where underground tunneling is impossible; funiculars that negotiate steep hills, and ferries that connect to the European and Asian sides of the city. A passenger can use a single ticket — actually a handy computer chip that he buys and swipes for passage. The city is becoming polycentric with public/private investment in several mixed-use central business districts and has many upgraded slums and better cared-for heritage venues. Port facilities and industry have been relocated to more appropriate sites, freeing up centrally located land.

So what fueled these changes? The Turkish bid to enter the European Union has stimulated national fiscal reform resulting in decentralization policies that empower municipal governments. Resulting city improvements began in the late 1980s but accelerated after the 2002 victory of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, former Istanbul mayor. His party, AKP (Justice and Development Party), now controls the national and Istanbul governments . The continuity of AKP leadership in Istanbul’s municipal leadership (now under Mayor Kadir Topbas, a charismatic, visionary architect — a modern-day Jaime Lerner) has been a big plus, offering a unified vision well as sympathetic treatment from the national government.

But other national and municipal legislation and public/private investment, some quite startling, are equally important. There have been three key sets of legislation. One allowed the consolidation of the municipal and provincial political boundaries and creation of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM), a regional management entity charged with overall city planning, infrastructure provision (water and sewer, mass transit), plus project implementation and management. (Created simultaneously, 39 subregional governments under district mayors deal with day-to-day operations.) Second was the creation and then strengthening of TOKI (Mass Housing Authority) that reports to the prime minister and actually has power to exercise eminent domain, supersede local zoning and commands substantial financing for housing, and can engage in public private partnerships. Third came the legalization of tenure on illegally occupied land, authorization of municipal “urban transformation projects” (large scale development) even within heritage districts, a broadening of housing finance (allowing extension of mortgages to more people), and permitting foreign real estate ownership.

So far the story may sound too glib and “top-down” — and it is. In reality, Istanbul is in a death struggle in its effort to model the exemplary 21st century mega-city. There’s no way around extraordinarily high densities (even if they also permit poverty reduction and relieve development pressure on heritage sites). Preserving ecosystems competes with the demand for land at the periphery. Transparency and public participation are weaker than in slow- or no-growth places. So the reader is forgiven if he or she shudders at this paean to Istanbul.

Still, the reader should remember that cities like Istanbul are confronting population increases the equivalent of adding a medium-sized city every year. Managing this explosive growth is a special challenge. Mobility, shelter, environmental clean-up become the overwhelming priorities — and some would argue the only way to plan a 21st century mega-city.

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Eugenie L. Birch is Nussdorf Professor of Urban Research at the University of Pennsylvania, a Citistates Group Associate and a member of the Steering Committee of the World Urban Campaign.

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