Features
Selected feature stories, focusing on civil society, environmental issues, human rights, social justice and urbanism
Istanbul Gets Caught Between Housing Crunch and Earthquake Risk
Soaring housing prices and political squabbling in Turkey’s largest city are hampering efforts to rebuild unstable homes. (Bloomberg CityLab)
Turkey’s Biggest City Falls Victim to Cold War With Erdoğan
Istanbul is being squeezed in clash between the national government and the opposition-run municipality. (Bloomberg CityLab)
Why Istanbul’s Ancient Imperial Legacy Lies Hidden in Plain Sight
Thanks to politics and the passage of time, grand monuments of the 1,000-year Byzantine Empire are easy to miss in the modern metropolis. (National Geographic)
Istanbul Wants to Make Urban Data Available to Everybody
Turkey’s largest city has rolled out a number of open data initiatives to increase government transparency and drive innovation. (Bloomberg CityLab)
Why Sounds and Smells Are as Vital to Cities as the Sights
The growing field of sensory urbanism is changing the way we assess neighborhoods and projects. (MIT Technology Review)
Istanbul’s Gecekondu Homes Reveal the Building Blocks of a Megalopolis
Gecekondu, or “landed overnight,” homes were hastily constructed as residents from the countryside rushed to urban centers after WWII. (Bloomberg CityLab)
Letter From Turkey—Solidarity, Grief, Anger and Fear
An address. A phone number. A list of names. “Five people.” “My two brothers.” “Mother, father, baby.” “Urgent.” Please help.” “Please share.” (The Markaz Review)
Istanbul Turns Taps on Old Fountains, Joining Global Push for Free Drinks,
For the Ottomans, providing water was a philanthropic duty. Free public fountains are now getting a new push. (Bloomberg CityLab)
This Turkish Chef is Fighting Climate Change With the Help of Syrian Refugees
By tapping traditional knowledge, chef/social entrepreneur Ebru Baybara Demir is helping make farming in Turkey’s southeast more resilient to climate change. (Ensia)
The 'Most Hopeful' New Housing in Turkey
Twenty years after Düzce earthquake, displaced families are getting homes they helped design and build. (CityLab)
What Happens to Street Animals When Tourists Suddenly Disappear?
As coronavirus forced millions of people around the world into lockdown, another sizeable population had also been hard hit—stray cats and dogs. (National Geographic)
Peeling Back A City’s Layers
Subway construction offers archaeologists rare opportunities to dig into historic urban centers —but with the clock ticking. (Discover)
Contested Spaces
New political urbanism in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, a symbol of the rapidly changing megacity. (Disegno)
Paradise Lost: What Happened to Turkey's Ancient Utopia?
Turkey’s Neolithic city of Çatalhöyük may have been an orderly society built on tolerance and equality — until it fell apart. (Discover)
The Olive and the Power Plant
Turkey's rush to build coal plants comes at the expense of its most beloved culinary ingredient. (Sierra)
Science, Interrupted
War and strife have uprooted many researchers. Can their life’s work be saved? (Discover)
In Istanbul’s Ancient Gardens, A Battle for Future Harvests
Development pressures are threatening Istanbul’s centuries-old gardens, which have produced food for the city’s markets since Byzantine times. (Yale Environment 360)
Dammed, Dirty, Drained by War: Can Iraq's Tigris River be Restored?
Restoring the Tigris to its free-flowing, clean former self is an upstream battle for Nature Iraq. (The Christian Science Monitor)
More features on environmental issues
>> A Sweet Gig: Danish Beekeeping Program Employs Refugees By operating urban beehives year-round, Bybi helps the environment, gives training, and creates opportunity. (TakePart, 2016)
>> Turkish Government Bears Down on Rural Resistance to Mining and Hydro Projects Villagers in the country’s lush Black Sea region face police force, legal hurdles, and more subtle means of suppression in their fight to protect the environment. (Mongabay, 2015)
>> New Solidarity in Struggle to Protect Turkey’s ‘Life Spaces’ Emerging regional and national networks seek to build connections between local communities and provide support to their fights against dams, mines, and other environmental threats. (Mongabay, 2015)
>> Between Two Worlds Can Puerto Rico preserve its Caribbean beauty as it pursues the American dream? (Sierra, 2006)
>> Dethroning King Coal A miner’s daughter stands up for Appalachia’s mountains. (Sierra, 2003)
>> Where the Cows Come Home One farm family shows how to work the land and save it, too. (Sierra, 2002)
More features on politics and social issues
>> The Serious Business of Satire in Turkey Political climate generates both inspiration and anxiety for cartoonists and other humourists. (International Press Institute, 2019)
>> Istanbul, the Day After If this city knows how to do anything, it’s how to move on. (CityLab, 2016)
>> A Bowl Full of Hope Soup-delivery project brings together three disadvantaged groups often ignored in Turkey’s largest city. (GOOD, 2015) [pdf]
>> She Turns Trash Into Cash… one candy wrapper at a time – and she’s creating jobs for Turkish women who have never had paid work before. (MORE, 2014) [pdf]
>> How the Garbage Pickers of Athens Predicted the Greek Economic Crisis A new documentary sheds light on the Greek city's most vulnerable residents. (CityLab, 2012)
>> Kurdish Female Migrants Meet Isolation in Istanbul For women caught up in Turkey’s waves of internal migration, the uprooting can be particularly harsh. (Women's eNews, 2012)
More features on urbanism
>> A Card Game Designed to Help Urban Communities Plan for the Future Imaginable Guidelines gives players a shared vocabulary and base of knowledge with which to talk about their city. (CityLab, 2019)
>> Why DIY Public Spaces Are Starting to Take Off in Turkey A small but growing movement is positioning itself as an alternative to the massive development projects currently (and controversially) reshaping Turkey’s biggest cities. (CityLab, 2015)