Chapter 10 - Many Meetings

After a quite relaxing Sunday it was back to reality and continue with our research, analysis and start the physical mapping of the area of Sulukule. However considering that we had to meet 2 important actors, which will help us understand better: the development of the city of Istanbul, where it is heading to and what strategic plans are they taking into consideration, there was the need to divide the BUDD group in two sets in order to attend both meetings and also work in the mapping of the area we decided to work in.

In my case I missed the morning meeting with the university and instead I went to Sulukule with my wonderful joyful mapping partner Ellie. The experience of mapping started very technical with us checking demolished houses, use of space, picture’s organization, etc. Local people were generally very friendly and curious with only one exception in which we weren’t welcomed; which might be a reflection of their despair of having a lot of attention from different sectors and actors without positive results. After the technical part we started to see a more social aspect of their lives, which was very difficult taking into consideration the language barriers, therefore it turned into a more informal and interesting activity that involved body language, sketches to show our countries, play football, dance, etc...every mapping group can add different stories they found on the streets of Sulukule.

The afternoon myself and some other BUDDS joined Cassidy to meet the Istanbul Metropolitan Planning IMP office in the city centre. The meeting’s purpose was to understand better the governance of the metropolitan area considering the differences between different local authorities, their approaches towards the economic growth of the city and the good legibility of the different suburban areas. It was very refreshing to see the magnitude of the city and what Istanbul means int the local area, Turkey and the international region. Even if the office works mainly as a consulting office addressing planning and urban design they had an opinion towards what is happening in Sulukule and the Fatih Municipality.

Once back in the apart hotel and with only 15 minutes for a break we found ourselves in what will turn into a marathon meeting involving all BUDD students and tutors firstly to discuss what are we doing which were our findings and what’s next; secondly after dinner we focused (without tutors) into brainstorming our proposals. This stage was directed by Jonathan in a very “Top Down” approach, even if Johnny’s tactics raised some eyebrows by the participants, I think it was very effective way to keep us focussed and stop us from wondering around the same stuff. After a hard night it was time to go straight to bed (no Tuborg).

After a really long day I just might conclude that the things and issues raised in the meetings will be important to our success, and will improve the feasibility of our proposals.