The plans for Taksim Square released last Fall by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality
The bloody protests in Turkey aren’t just about urban design, but it was a plan to redesign Taksim Square that sparked the original demonstrations. You may wonder what sort of plans could spark such a passionate response. Well, we’ve embedded animations from the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s website to show you.
In February 2012, the city released the animation below. The video begins with an aerial shot of Taksim Square as it is today, with many mature trees, and then shows the barren pedestrian zone that was initially set to replace it. The plans call for the reconstruction of a historic barracks that was to serve as a shopping mall and cultural destination, and almost all of the greenery was to be enclosed within this structure. These plans were by far the most widely circulated on the internet and are the only plans that show up on the municipality’s YouTube channel. (Update, June 6th: These plans have been removed from the municipality’s YouTube channel, but we have found another link to them.)
Apparently, the government got the message that those plans would not do for one of Istanbul’s most prominent open spaces. But instead of engaging with the public, the municipality released these slightly edited plans last October—on the same day it announced that construction would begin. The plans, which the municipality was showing off as recently as Saturday, break up some of the vast stretches of paving with panels of grass but the space they show is still quite inhumanely scaled with benches surrounded by fields of pavement and none of the shade the square previously provided.
There was also little effort to get out word to people living and working nearby about how the plans would affect them. In November 2012, the Hürriyet Daily News reported that some shopkeepers were surprised to discover their businesses had been permanently blocked off overnight when construction began on the underpasses. “Nobody informed us about this,” one shopkeeper said. “Yesterday morning they came and built this wall in front of my kiosk. It blocks my doorway, light and air.” By early May, more than half the project was actually constructed. The protests last week were a last-ditch effort to save the trees that still remained in a part of the area known as Gezi Park.
The Atlantic Cities has a reporter in Istanbul who interviewed Betül Tanbay, one of the activists who was protesting the park’s destruction. “We tried to have a dialogue with the municipality,” she said. “We didn’t say that nothing should be changed [at Taksim]. We said, let’s discuss it together. As citizens, we deserve to be part of the plans — we don’t want them to be made behind doors and declared during construction.”
Yesterday, the Hürriyet Daily News reported that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğanhad backed off plans for a shopping mall on the site, but still plans to remove the existing park and build something there. “You cannot make an AVM [shopping mall] familiar to the international ones in this area,” Erdoğan said. “There is no conclusive AVM project here. Maybe we will make a city museum there or an architectural work that will put different activities in place. Is there any certain document? No.”
The problem of inadequate public participation and a topdown approach to urban development that has probably left the real design issues in the dust of destruction.
Well there is more to the story instead. The first renders introduced in 2012 were showing an icerink at the center of the compound where the park and historical trees are. Later on in 2013 we saw those hideous animations. We (me as an architect) never saw any plans, sections or whatso ever. I beleive all the site is sitting on top of at least 2 floors of underground car park which means all the historic trees will be cut and replaced by short ones.
Helal olsun sana be Tim. Bizim koyunlarda bu dandik planı bi şey sanıyor. Teşekkürler.
We do not have complete drawings and details, however it seems like an expensive and ineffective solution based on the information provided by Landscape Architecture Magazine. Extensive use of underground vehicle transportation in this plan could result with creation of undesirable spaces.
Dr. Murat Mayor, MAYOR STRATEGY, mayorstrategy.com
[…] o Landscape Achitecture Magazine, o governo turco desistiu da implementação do shopping, porém ainda planeja mudanças bruscas […]
I wish the piece above could have an architectural background and critique instead of merely saying ‘ awful’
I suppose the fate of Tarlabaşı also deserves a mention: http://is.gd/egC1nJ – is it tacky? is it ghastly? does it look like a 1st year student’s overnight job? why, of course!
[…] ISTANBUL’S AWFUL PLANS | Daniel Jost | Landscape Architecture Magazine “The bloody protests in Turkey aren’t just about urban design, but it was a plan to redesign Taksim Square that sparked the original demonstrations.” […]
[…] ISTANBUL’S AWFUL PLANS | Daniel Jost | Landscape Architecture Magazine “The bloody protests in Turkey aren’t just about urban design, but it was a plan to redesign Taksim Square that sparked the original demonstrations.” […]
Project seems so beautiful. Thanks a lot for everybody who is working for that project
What is awful in that project. I think its wonderful. Don’t worry guys Taksim will be the best square all of the world. If you need a square sth like that you can ask our president RTE. Don’t grudge. 🙂
[…] Τα σχέδια για την ανάπλαση της πλατείας Ταξίμ […]
From every perspective – land usage, overbuilding, lack of public comment, not listening to increased public concern, poor design, disrupting the life of the city, shopkeepers and damaging the tourism business — changing Gezi Park is a poorly thought out idea.
There are many other ‘awful’ plans for Istanbul such as converting the Haydarpasa Main Station and the land around it for Olympic facilities http://bit.ly/15NXDSq and the Halic Bridge http://bit.ly/12VNg0t deteriorating the Istanbul silouette. The 3rd bridge across the Bosphorous is also a danger to the north forest and water supplies of Istanbul. The Gezi Park mentioned above is part of the no.2 park of Istanbul between Taksim and Dolmabahce Palace planned by Henry Prost in the 40’s; a stadium, hotels and Suzer Plaza were built within this park until today. Gezi is the last remaining part. It has become a symbol for those who believe that their city is under risk.
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[…] The government sees urban space as the stage for visualizing its power over crowds. However, the ‘crazy grand urban plans’ that helped Erdoğan win the national elections are turning into a social bomb, as well informed […]
PM Erdogan’s (aka Padisah) a frustrated man because he’s in deep s***. I suspect, since Kurdish Fighters began leaving their positions in Turkey under a peace plan, Mr.PM started to read the tea leaves and got nervous. when hundreds of thousands of marching feet raised their voice at Taksim Gezi Park, he lost himself and practiced the violence exercised by the state against collective political rights and environmental rights. He tried to silence people with tear gas, water cannon, and arrests, and death. but Taxim Movement has become much bigger than itself. the protesters mobilize people in the streets, take the initiative and say the time has come to change the tune. they know very well the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
[…] http://landscapearchitecturemagazine.org/2013/06/03/istanbuls-awful-plans/ […]
Some may say the project looks lovely, some may say awful. The biggest problem people have with all the construction going on is it’s pushed through by Tayyip and his cronies without even pretending to listen to the opinions of the public, environmentalists, civil engineers or historians and the contracts are given to friends and relatives.
There is no transparency.
After the protests started, after they had already ripped out some trees, the mayor came out with “but they didn’t give us a chance to explain!” Since then RTE himself has flip-flopped many times on what will be built…. Shopping mall, residence, museum, opera house, mosque…. Seems they still can’t explain what the mysterious project will be.
It is rather ridiculous.
[…] crackdown of the peaceful demonstrators who sought to protect the park from demolition, and the government’s architectural proposal, which would be implemented by a company owned by Erdogan’s son-in-law, became the symbol of an […]
Every perspective – land usage, overbuilding, lack of public comment, not taking note of redoubled public concern, poor style, disrupting the lifetime of town, shopkeepers and damaging the business business — ever-changing Gezi Park may be a poorly thought out plan.
[…] Learning From Taksim Square: Architecture, State Power, and Public Space In Istanbul […]