Architecture and urban planning have always been used by political regimes to stamp their ideologies upon cities, and this is especially the case in the modern Turkish Republic. By exploring Istanbul's modern architectural and urban history, Murat Gul highlights the dynamics of political and social change in Turkey from the late-Ottoman period until today. Looking beyond pure architectural styles or the physical manifestations of Istanbul's cultural landscape, he offers critical insight into how Turkish attempts to modernise have affected both the city and its population. Charting the diverse forces evident in Istanbul's urban fabric, the book examines late Ottoman reforms, the Turkish Republic's turn westward for inspiration, Cold War alliances and the AK Party's reaffirmation of cultural ties with the Middle East and the Balkans. Telltale signs of these moments - revivalist architecture drawing on Ottoman and Seljuk styles, 1930s Art Deco, post-war International Style buildings and the proliferation of shopping malls, luxurious gated residences and high-rise towers, for example - are analysed and illustrated in extensive detail.Connecting this rich history to present-day Istanbul, whose urban development is characterised anew by intense social stratification, the book will appeal to researchers of Turkey, its architecture and urban planning.

Esra Akcan describes the introduction of modern architecture into Turkey after the Kemalist political elite took power in 1923 and invited German architects to redesign the new capital of Ankara.

Mid-Century Modernism in Turkey studies the unfolding of modern architecture in Turkey during the 1950s and 1960s. The book brings together scholars who have carried out extensive research on post-WWII modernism in a global context. The authors situate Turkish architectural case studies within an international framework during this period, providing a close reading of how architectural culture responded to ubiquitous post-war ideas and ideals, and how it became intertwined with politics of modernization and urbanization. This book contributes to contemporary scholarship to reconsider post-war architecture, beyond canonical explanations.

The latest in the popular Watermark Architectural Guides series, covering the architecture of this huge and ancient city from Byzantine ruins to modern high-rise.

Building Modern Turkey offers a critical account of how the built environment mediated Turkey's transition from a pluralistic (multiethnic and multireligious) empire into a modern, homogenized nation-state following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I. Zeynep Kezer argues that the deliberate dismantling of ethnic and religious enclaves and the spatial practices that ensued were as integral to conjuring up a sense of national unity and facilitating the operations of a modern nation-state as were the creation of a new capital, Ankara, and other sites and services that embodied a new modern way of life. The book breaks new ground by examining both the creative and destructive forces at play in the making of modern Turkey and by addressing the overwhelming frictions during this profound transformation and their long-term consequences. By considering spatial transformations at different scales—from the experience of the individual self in space to that of international geopolitical disputes—Kezer also illuminates the concrete and performative dimensions of fortifying a political ideology, one that instills in the population a sense of membership in and allegiance to the nation above all competing loyalties and ensures its longevity.

In its transition from 18th century capital of the Ottoman Empire to economic powerhouse of the Turkish Republic, the city of Istanbul has been transformed beyond recognition. After the establishment of the Republic, Turkey increasingly turned to the West for ideas about how to create, shape and direct the development of a modern culture. This desire was felt most strongly in Istanbul, Turkey's most populous city. Its status as the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and later the economic hub of Turkey, made Istanbul a forum for the different regimes to display their political, ideological and social policies in the context of the built environment. Some modernisation policies never came to fruition - such as the unsuccessful late nineteenth century attempt by young Ottoman bureaucrats to initiate planning reforms at a time when the Empire was on the verge of collapse. The new Turkish Republic at first neglected the old Ottoman capital, and later attempted to make it conform to its secular political ideology. After World War II, Istanbul entered a new era in modernisation, with the Democratic Party government conducting a large scale re-design of Istanbul's urban form in order to show Turkey as a major political and economic force in post-war Europe and the Middle East. The scale of this modernisation process mirrored the spectacular transformation of Paris a century before: thousands of buildings were demolished, boulevards were carved out within the old city, and whole new residential neighbourhoods were created. In telling the story of this dramatic transformation, Murat Gül investigates and traces the impact of these changing policies on the very fabric of the city itself - in its streets, buildings and landscapes - and in the process provides new insights into the history of Turkey.