Author(s)

S. Turgut

Abstract

In an international dimension, Istanbul, an assertive city where the scientific society accepts it to be of universal value, has been claiming its identity as a global city throughout the centuries. The current process of this city, which incorporates many rapid and striking changes, is in jeopardy. In the long run, it is moving towards a point that would threaten the city with rapid and alarming steps. This paper will focus on two projects that constitute two of these steps. It will try to explain the ecological and cultural heritage based threats that these two projects cause for the sustainability of the city. The first one is a project that was currently debated for Istanbul, also a mega transportation project – North Marmara Highway and Third Bosphorus Bridge, and the second one is Golden Horn Subway Transition Bridge, which goes above Golden Horn and is the first subway transition bridge in Turkey. This paper will evaluate the risks and threats, which the first rapidly constructed project creates in the northern parts of the city every day. The second project to be discussed, the Golden Horn Subway Bridge, will be considered with particular regard to its negative effect on the Historical Peninsula and the Süleymaniye silhouette. As a result, considering the risks that these kinds of interferences in the city’s identity could cause in the long run, the fact that the factors leading to the investment decisions are the “capital’s demand” and “projects that are away from scientific acceptance” instead of “sustainability”, “cultural heritage and identity” or “protection-usage balance” will be discussed.

Keywords

İstanbul, sustainable city, Third Bosphorus Bridge, İstanbul silhouette