Encountering the Urban Crisis: The Gezi Event and the Politics of Urban Design

Batuman, Bülent; Baykan, Deniz Altay; Deniz, Evin

doi:10.1080/10464883.2016.1197655

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 1 publication

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“…This was the catalyst for a much wider movement that had been efflorescing, in different forms, for a long time as a response to the new urban policies imposed by State and the market (Elicin, 2014;Gül et al, 2014;Lelandais, 2016;Örs, 2014). The Gezi Park Movement, its spatiality, its socio-political dimensions and consequences, all have been extensively discussed in the literature and the media (Ay and Miraftab, 2016;Batuman et al, 2016;Çoban, 2016;Elicin, 2017;Eryılmaz, 2016;Inceoglu, 2015;Lelandais, 2016;Odabaş and Reynolds-Stenson, 2017). Therefore, this section investigates the Taksim Square and Gezi Park Development Project as the State's tool for imposing its ideological image, how that triggered the Gezi Park Movement, and how the entire process was aimed at constructing a new urban identity and diminishing the memory of the place and its historical roots.…”

Section: Radical Spatiality In Tehranmentioning

confidence: 99%

The abstract space and the alienation of political public space in the Middle East

Zamani

Mehan

2019

ARCH

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explain how abstract space of the State – universally and specifically within the context of Middle Eastern cities – aims to homogenise the city and eliminate any anomaly that threatens its power structure. Design/methodology/approach Through a historical and discourse analysis of these policies and processes in the two case studies, this paper presents a contextualised reading of Lefebvre’s concept of abstract space and process of abstraction in relation to the alienation of political public spaces. Findings The paper proposes that regardless of these homogenising strategies being applied universally, they fail to respond to contextual particularities and therefore they – in a contradictory manner – may themselves produce a space of resistance and difference. Originality/value This paper focusses on Iran, the case of Tehran and Turkey, the case of Taksim Square and Gezi Park in Istanbul. Recent policies and strategies have been proposed and implemented to reduce, alienate and possibly neutralise the impacts of urban and political protests in these cities and socio-political contexts.

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