Ron Weissenburger
Borders and Territories
Modernizing a City of Migrants: The Hidden Informal World of Tarlabaşı
In the year 2000 the big Urban Transformation project in Istanbul started. The goal of this project is for Istanbul to become a global city. In trying to achieve this goal, it uses a system structured by institutional and legal regulations, whereby government agencies have power over the physical and socio-economic context in Istanbul. This causes a lot of forced evictions. According to the UN, there were at least 1,000,000 people under threat of forced eviction in 2009 due to this project. The informal neighbourhood and location of this project called Tarlabaşı in the centre of Istanbul is also disappearing due to this Transformation Project. Therefore, the design will form a shelter for informality providing space for the accommodation of informal practices related to waste picking. The hybrid structure offers room for self-regulation. In addition, the design will be an anonymous safe haven for the poor and minorities.