The neighbouring megalopolis

The six-way conversation about Istanbul held at the MAXXI Museum offered a lively debate on the megalopolis that lies closest to Europe, amid modernisation, stratification and recession.

On 3 July in the piazza of MAXXI in Rome, MAXXI, together with Insula architettura e ingegneria and Based Architecture presented “Cose Turche”, a six-way conversation that involved prominent figures in architecture and urban studies in a discussion about the city of Istanbul and the process of transformation that it is undergoing, bringing it closer to Europe amid modernisation, stratification and recession.

It was a lively debate that provoked thought on various issues: how, for example, the modern expansion of the city is superimposed – often violently – onto layers of history; the relationship between modes of settlement and physical territory in ancient and recent history; the demands of the property economy and its compatibility with the environmental eco-system. They are themes that, at different scales, provoked a not so latent comparison with Rome, a city that not only provided the backdrop for the evening’s events but one that is dense with layers of history that result in modernity and contemporaneity being absorbed in complex and delicate ways.

Emre Arolat Architects, Mosquee Sancaklar, Istanbul (Turkey), 2012. Photo © Emre Arolat Architects

Istanbul - a city that in 1951 included 1 million inhabitants and now totals 17 - is the megalopolis that lies closest to Europe in geographical terms and therefore, perhaps, the most decipherable. Attempting to take stock of this situation were Serhan Ada (Istanbul Bilgi University), architect Emre Arolat, Eugenio Cipollone (from the studio Insula architettura e ingegneria), Doğu Kaptan (from Atelye70) and Ömer Yılmaz (Arkitera), moderated by Francesco Garofalo.

Istanbul represents an interesting case of urban explosion, the consequence of the profound and rapid economic and cultural changes that Turkey has undergone over recent years. Its specific historic and geopolitical background make it an original and emblematic example of a megalopolis, that differs in modality but is similar in terms of quantity and rapidity, to the urban explosions in oriental, African and South American cities. A history that goes back thousands of years imposes close connections with the urban development and morphological changes of the territory, in which complex and difficult relationships between urban politics, the rewriting of history, economic expansion and collective participation are all woven together.

Insula architettura e ingegneria, Francesco Cellini and Atelye 70: Yenikapi transfer point and Archaeo Park (Turkey), 2014 (competition first prize). Photo © Insula architettura e ingegneria

Dogu Kaptan described the phenomenon of urban growth dating back to the second half of the twentieth century when, as in many other cases, the formal and informal city developed in a linear fashion along the streets, infrastructures of production and mobility “with no piazzas being built any more”, abandoning the original settlement model, ‘naturally’ facing south, dictated by topography and protected from the north winds. Also as a modern city, observed Garofalo, Istanbul opened up to new forms of expansion along linear industrial street axes, after the fall of the ancient ‘walled’ city.

The phenomenon of urban growth is also included in programmes of political propaganda. This has attempted to direct the phenomenon of growth through official forms of urban planning. As was the case in most modern European cities and as is occurring in the large cities in emerging countries, unlimited growth is not always synonymous with development. With the exhaustion of expansion of the two original settlement areas on the Bosphorus facing south, new areas of development have been drawn in the north and along transport axes.

Emre Arolat, a prominent figure in Turkish architecture and curator of the first Design Istanbul Biennale in 2012 underlined – using the term “Londonisation", the critical link between the drive for property growth and liberal conservative politics. Istanbul, like the new Chinese cities, does not lack anything: market property developments, new settlements following 'themes" (like the new little Venice, the new little Bosphorus), vertical growth, use linked to the logics of consumption of "simulacrums" of the eastern figurative imagination.

Insula architettura e ingegneria, Francesco Cellini and Atelye 70: Yenikapi transfer point e Archaeo Park (Turchia), 2014 (competition first prize). Photo © Insula architettura e ingegneria

Alongside these examples, an approach to transfiguring memory through the filter of a cultured and refined modernity was discussed that, starting with the discipline of architecture, attempts to redefine the form and space of a “classic” and seemingly immutable type, such as the mosque. A case in point is the design of the new mosque at Sancaklar, where the archetype is rewritten through the formation of a new space, strongly integrated with and springing out of the landscape.

An original point of view, that provoked thought and an inevitable comparison with Rome, was offered by Eugenio Cipollone (Insula) who talked about his experience as an Italian architect involved in a number of projects in Istanbul. He spoke in particular about Yenikapi (competition design by Insula, Cellini and Atelye 70, joint winners with Mecanno with Cafer Bozkurt Architects and Peter Eisenman with Aytas Architects) in which the issue of building new transport infrastructures meets with the archeological dig and thus with the physical layering of history in a piece of Istanbul. The discovery of an important archeological “urban” find, raised the question of approach between new and old. Cipollone highlighted four methods: “surrender”, often practised in Italy - “selection” of models and reference that are often nostalgic; “imposition” and continuity, the only and the most difficult plausible path, taking greatest collective responsibility.

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The neighbouring megalopolis

The six-way conversation about Istanbul held at the MAXXI Museum offered a lively debate on the megalopolis that lies closest to Europe, amid modernisation, stratification and recession.

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The value of solidity

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