A Renovation Project in Istanbul: Tarlabaşı Renovation Project
Will the renovation project wipe out the former social fabric?
Tarlabaşı quarter located in Beyoğlu District abound with its historical buildings and unique examples of architecture that date from the end of 18th and 19th centuries, is frequently referred to as where the painful and toilsome life of Beyoğlu expresses itself.
While the weariness is clearly visible on the desolate state of the buildings that were once celebrated for their uniqueness and beauty, Tarlabaşı also reflects the very vivid and colorful life of its residents. In spite of its run-down look and rumors about high crime rates, it is home to a very unique social fabric with its residents ranging from gypsies to immigrant workers from Anatolia, from asylum seekers to old shopkeepers, from devoted Muslims to communities marginalized by the society such as transvestites.
In 2007 Beyoğlu Municipality approved the renovation project of Tarlabaşı for which the first step was taken in 2005. The project has come this year to its final stage and the first phase of destruction/construction is under way.
The 65% of the proprietors have made agreements with investors and 278 building within 20.000m² will be restored within the scope of the 5 million dollar giant project. Most owners are given housing or shops in the new Tarlabaşı while they receive financial support for their temporary rents and moving expenses from the investment group; however some had to sell their real property waving good-bye to their former neighborhood. According to the plan while the facades of the building would be preserved, smaller historical ones of 50-100 m² will be merged into single blocks in groups of five to ten.
The municipality’s statements about the motives behind this renovation project seem very reasonable on the surface, yet some cracks are present within their reasoning. They claim that the renovation project will transform the neighborhood into a safer, healthier and more livable one with a contemporary and modern look; that the socio-economic problems will be solved to a great extent as danger factors diminish and new employment opportunities arise with a need for more qualified professions.
Witnessing the last days of soon-to-be-former residents
The renovation project foresees the construction of shopping malls, residences and boutique hotels in the neighborhood, rendering it a home of major commercial activities particularly of tourism and service industry. Although one can not but agree to that the present infrastructure of Tarlabaşı is in an unhealthy and dangerous state, that the deserted houses and the neglected streets definitely need renovation, there is still a sense of uncertainty and perhaps a fear of danger about the future of this renovation/gentrification process.
While it will renovate the neighborhood to the needs and standards of a certain majority – or perhaps a minority – and definitely of capitalism, it is still not clear where the present population will be re-located and under what circumstances. While the project might re-integrate Tarlabaşı into the city’s urban life with its cultural and economic activities, there is the danger of loosing its cultural multiplicity and of further marginalizing its soon-to-be-former population.
The Municipality of Beyoğlu openly states that they aim to make Tarlabaşı a place where the light of Beyoğlu sparkles, that they want to ‘transform it into Champs-Elysees’. But the question remains whether this bright but dull white light having lost all its colorful shades will be reflected only from shopping mall windows, and whether Tarlabaşı will have one of the most expensive strips of real estate just like Champs-Elysees making it inaccessible to some of its former residents…
Beyoğlu Municipality Tarlabaşı Project
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