The Role of Global City Discourses in the Development and Transformation of the Buyukdere-Maslak Axis into the International Business District of Istanbul

Abstract

Globalization has been the dominant discourse in political and academic circles and is a particular explanation for changes in the world's economic, political, cultural and spatial structures and a bias policy prescription. It suggests that the world economy has been transformed as a result of evolutionary change in the capitalist economy and technological developments, particularly in communication, information and transportation. This discourse claims that the globalized economy has reshaped the spatial organization of the world. It has also been claimed that global economy has been organized over the global cities that manage, control and command the global economy. They are the centres of economic wealth and social and technological progress. During the past 30 years, politicians, professionals and academicians have been inspired by the global city concept, which has resulted in fierce competition among the large cities of the world to achieve global city status. Istanbul, like its counterparts, has been a competitor during the past three decades. Its economic, social, political and spatial structures have subsequently changed to a profound extent. This article aims to explain the spatial transformation of the city and focuses on the international business district of the city in the Buyukdere-Maslak axis. It aims to show that the spatial transformation of the city is the outcome of a wider political project, globalization, which has been constructed in the local areas through economic, political and cultural processes by deploying certain discourses. These discourses have been translated by the elite groups into economic and urban policies, which have shaped the spatial structure of the city.