Looking for spatial diversity in central urban space of Istanbul

Abstract

Sustainability of urban space as a system can be explained in terms of the balance of all its urban characteristics over time. The maintenance of spatial diversity emerges as an important problematic in rapidly developing urban spaces, where the established balance can be disturbed by the sudden spatial interventions. For this reason, it is necessary to discuss how that balance is affected by new projects. In this study, a part of a dense central urban area of Istanbul is assessed using a conceptual approach to spatial diversity. The contemporary structure and the sense of place of the former mostly residential district turned to high-rise office zone has an overlapping history with the modernization of Istanbul. This study, informed by spatial readings on conceptual classification of urban systems, explores how the district in question has been affected by new high-rise office buildings. It reveals the impact of global capital on urban diversity by examining the urban space as a whole so as to determine the change in spatial diversity balance. © 2019 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved.