Behind the Scaffolding: Manipulations of Time, Delays, and Power in Tarlabaşı, Istanbul

Abstract

Taksim 360, located in the Tarlabaşı neighborhood of Istanbul, is one of the first state-led urban transformation projects in Turkey. Originally scheduled to be finished in 2014, the project is still under construction. Concordant with broader discussions, Tarlabaşı's urban transformation has been largely studied through spatial lenses centered on accumulation by dispossession and displacement. These works assume that urban transformation projects necessarily follow a linear trajectory from inception to completion. Building on and diverging from this body of research, I examine the relationships between construction companies, subcontractors, and politicians involved in Taksim 360 through ethnographic fieldwork and media analysis with a critical emphasis on temporality. I argue that urban transformation in fact works through manipulations of time, which necessitates a temporal analytical lens that does not take teleologies of buildings projects for granted. It is specifically through delays that economic and political power is exerted, navigated, and negotiated within Taksim 360 using legal contracts, work stoppages, and stand-offs; conjuring of continued investment; and improvisations with labor and political capital. And so, delays emerge as modus operandi of urban transformation rather than measures of its failures or successes [Urban Transformation; Temporality; Accumulation; Istanbul; Turkey]

Cities after planning

“…Planners mobilize different temporalities to realize their work, as evinced by a range of articles submitted to this and other journals in geography and urban studies (Abreek-Zubiedat and Nitzan-Shiftan, 2020; Arıcan, 2020; Lanari, 2019; Laurian and Inch, 2019; Raco et al., 2018; Zhang, 2022). Among the diverse temporalities that planning activities engage, the foreseeable (or near) future is perhaps the most significant temporal horizon for planners.…”

“…They make this point in a discussion of recent work on the speed of urban development processes in London where, they show, slower development processes create favorable opportunities for private financial actors to secure long-term gains (Raco et al., 2018). Similarly, as Arıcan (2020) demonstrates in her research on the Taksim 360 project in Istanbul, delays can be intended outcomes of planning as they produce opportunities to exert and contest power (see also Günel, 2019).…”

Beyond lawfare: An analysis of law's temporality through Russian‐doll urbanization from Turkey

“…Although interdisciplinary studies have investigated spatial transformations in great length, the scope of analyses has been limited to cases that are "completed" (Arıcan, 2020) or those which cause clear, visible outcomes-either success or failure-of accumulation by dispossession. Generally, evictions, displacement, ruination, and gentrification are shown as end-products of urban transformations.…”

TEMPORAL POLITICS AND INJUSTICE IN MEGA URBANIZATION: Lessons from Yangzhou, China

“…However, while accelerated urbanization may privilege urban actors ‘who may operate within compressed time scales’ (Jessop, 2016: 228) and thus consolidate existing political and economic structures (Shin et al ., 2020: 244), research by Raco et al . (2018) in London and Arican (2020) in Istanbul demonstrates that slow planning and development may not necessarily lead to more equitable, just outcomes, but instead work to the advantage of more resourceful urban builders and elites.…”