Abstract
As globalization continues to draw the world into closer economic and intellectual dependence, massive tracts of informally designed communities in Istanbul are being cleared to accommodate the growing infrastructure of the modern, tourism-driven city This attempt to purge the city of its ‘squatter’ heritage is startling and raises questions of cultural integrity in urban development. Istanbul’s desire for expanded global investment is particularly apparent in the object of this study, the blended district of Kartal. This study measures, compares, and evaluates spatial performance of formal and informal neighborhood spaces, but makes no formal attempt to draw normative prescriptive conclusions. The theories of Kevin Lynch and Jane Jacobs are synthesized in order to analyze three constructs of spatial performance: density, grain and access. As such, this study has not only produced a more rigorous tool for remote analysis, but one that can be applied to other urban settlements in the future.
Recommended Citation
Breshears, H. A. (2013). (In)formal Distinction in Urban Istanbul: Evaluating Spatial Performance. Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal, 15(1). Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/inquiry/vol15/iss1/4
