The Aya Sofya, in the Sultanahmet district, is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Istanbul. The structure, which is well over 2000 years old, was first used as patriarchal basilica, later as a mosque and is now a museum. Photo Credit: Kat Russel
Who knew that an email could change the course of my life? It certainly wasn’t what I was expecting when I opened the mass email my adviser had sent out. But there it was – opportunity knocking, and opportunity’s name was The Istanbul Project.
If the universe saw fit, I was to study journalism in Istanbul for five weeks through ieiMedia — an intensive international journalism program.
Whether or not I was going to be able to pull it off was questionable. I am a single mom and a fulltime student, and making that work is hard enough without me being in a different country. On top of that, I’m not exactly swimming in pools of excess money.
I was forced to weigh the pros and cons of the situation – could I justify spending five
weeks away from my son? Could I justify the future financial burdens that would result from my going? Did the benefits of such an opportunity outweigh the cons? In the end, I concluded they did and with that, my journey began.
The months before my departure were a whirlwind of preparation. There were countless emails back and forth with the program administration, the professors, and my future classmates.
I spent many evenings glued to my computer researching possible grant and scholarship programs. There were applications to be filled out and essays to write and letters of recommendation to collect. I had to get my transcripts in order and mailed out. Not to mention the finalizing of the actual trip details. On top of all of that, let’s not forget homework doesn’t take a vacation simply because I had a trip to plan. It was madness.
About a month before my departure, I received some of the best news I could have. All my hard work researching and applying for grants and scholarships had paid off. I had received a $5,000 scholarship from the Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship fund to pay for my study abroad experience.
I was shocked! While I was researching financial-aid possibilities, I always found a reason why I didn’t qualify for that grant or why I wasn’t going to get this scholarship. However, one of the most valuable lessons life has taught me thus far is to not let the details keep me from trying. Lesson learned and reaffirmed.
With all my ducks in a row, Istanbul became tangible. Istanbul beckoned. Anticipation and excitement and fear and anxiousness all had their way with me. I was going to Istanbul.
There are likely many students who would love to have the opportunity to study in another country. Over the next few weeks, I will share my adventures in Istanbul ranging from studying abroad, to experiencing a drastic shift in perceptions, to finding unexpected romance.
I hope my experiences will inspire you to take a chance, fill out an application or two, and see what the world has to offer.
via Istanbul Adventures: My Study Abroad Experience | Daily Sundial.
Earlier this summer, the style magazine Monocle published its annual Quality of Life surveys where it identifies what it judges to be the top 25 cities in the world. It is an interesting reflection on what makes people excited to live where they do.
Helsinki, Finland's capital, tops a list of 25 cities in the 'Quality of Life' survey by the style magazine Monocle. John Borthwick / Lonely Planet
Helsinki, Finland’s capital, topped the list.
I know what you are thinking: why would a city where the sun doesn’t shine much for a large proportion of the year get rated as the best place to live in the world?
Monocle says Helsinki’s selection is due to its “fundamental courage to rethink its urban ambitions, and for possessing the talent, ideas and guts to pull it off. Crime is low, unemployment rates sound, the education system world class, and the city’s food culture is thriving. Entrepreneurship and innovation is present in a young, skilled and technically proficient business culture. And the city’s hardware generally manages to perform like a dream.”
I think we’d all agree these are strong elements for any great city.
Trying to define the characteristics of what makes a city a great place to live is an issue never far from the top of the agenda for civic authorities, urban planners, architects and developers.
So what makes a city “liveable”?
Over recent years there have been attempts to apply scientific criteria to the question of a “liveable city”. Designed with the original intention of helping multinational companies decide where to open offices or plants and how much to pay employees, through relative grades in areas such as stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure, such lists attract much attention and discussion.
The annual Quality of Living Survey from the consulting firm Mercer compares 221 cities based on 39 criteria. New York is given a baseline score of 100 and other cities are rated in comparison. Important criteria are safety, education, hygiene, health care, culture, environment, recreation, political-economic stability and public transport. The top of the list is dominated by Europe. It is not the only ranking list with a rather Anglo-Saxon perspective.
In the annual list compiled by The Economist magazine, Canada, Australia and New Zealand top the list, with Vancouver at the number one spot. The Economist explains its criteria thus: “Cities that score best tend to be mid-sized cities in wealthier countries with a relatively low population density. This often fosters a broad range of recreational availability without leading to high crime levels or overburdened infrastructure.”
That sounds like Abu Dhabi.
But Abu Dhabi is not close to the top of these league tables of liveable cities. I don’t want to dismiss the beautiful cities that consistently top the liveable lists of Forbes magazine, Mercer and The Economist – Vancouver, Vienna, Zurich, Geneva, Copenhagen and Munich. They are clean and peaceful and well designed – all great characteristics in a city. But they are rather monocultural; they lack the friction, the energy and the buzz that make some cities more exciting places to live.
A more interesting best place to live list came from readers of the Financial Times, in May this year. Numbers two and three on the FT’s list were London and New York. No surprises there for their fans in the UAE: both have energy and excitement (and lots more besides) that many people look for in a place to live.
But the city that came out top was Istanbul. Surprising? Not really. There is nothing boring about Istanbul. It is cosmopolitan, busy, young in its population but historic in its fabric, socially mixed, accessible and a city that has always built on its status as a bridge between not just continents but civilisations, ideas, religions and peoples. Istanbul is an exciting city. Could you have an enjoyable and exciting time there? Definitely. Live there? Possibly.
And that is precisely the issue when it comes to liveability. Everyone’s criteria are different. After the mandatory issues such as safety, low crime, efficient infrastructure, far-sighted government and thriving economy, the rest is really up for grabs; a matter of personal choice.
So what about Abu Dhabi? From the perspective of the liveability indexes, it has many advantages. It is able to learn from the examples of other cities and incorporate the best into its plans – in education, healthcare, leisure, enterprise and infrastructure. The development of Abu Dhabi is focused on developing community environments that meet the needs of one of the most diversely populated cities in the Middle East. Its position as a relatively new city makes it easier to initiate measures – from infrastructure to recycling – than in a more established metropolis.
As the French philosopher Rene Descartes wrote when describing Amsterdam in the 17th century, a great city should be “an inventory of the possible”.
There is no doubt residents in Abu Dhabi are on a journey towards fulfilling their own list of dreams and our ambitions of the possible.
But the heart of a city cannot be located in buildings, plans and statistics. This lies in its people. Throughout the world the cities that are most alive, most “liveable” contain a mix of social and economic classes. When cities are doing things right, lots of people want to come to live in them, with a resulting buzz that comes from a diversity of population.
These are characteristics at the heart of great cities. You won’t find them in a list. In these, Abu Dhabi is strong. And could be great.
* Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak is the deputy chief executive of Aldar Properties.
via Full: What makes Helsinki and Istanbul ‘liveable’? – The National.
Courtesy of the artist Biennial rediscovery: an untitled 1979 self-portrait by Peru's Teresa Burga.
Istanbul’s art scene is mushrooming, aided by the recent openings of nonprofit art spaces like Garanti Bank’s Salt, Vehbi Koç Foundation’s Arter-Space for Art and Borusan Holding’s ArtCenter Istanbul. Their arrival may give a boost to a longtime also-ran in the art-biennial pack—the Istanbul Biennial, an exhibition of contemporary art that opens Saturday and runs through Nov. 13 at the Antrepo warehouses.
Biennials typically serve as breakout moments for hot young artists, but biennial co-curator Adriano Pedrosa and collaborator Jens Hoffman said they scoured for older, overlooked artists whose works may still feel revelatory. Case in point: Teresa Burga, a Peruvian artist who compiled a self-portrait from drawings and a sheaf of medical records.
Much of the art is bundled into five group shows; each takes its theme from a work of art created by Félix González-Torres, a Cuban sculptor known for using everyday items like candies and light bulbs to confront personal and societal woes like AIDS.
One of the group shows explores themes of sexuality and includes portraits by photographer Catherine Opie. Another centers on migration, identity and border controls, includes Claudia Andujar’s photographs of obscure, indigenous Brazilians who don’t, by custom, adopt individual names. (Ms. Andujar identifies their portraits by number.)
Other rediscoveries include Geta Brătescu, an 85-year-old Romanian artist who makes geometric collages from rags, and Turkish photographer Yçldçz Moran Arun, deemed a maverick in the 1960s because she crisscrossed the country documenting the lives of women at a time when few local women traveled solo. Mr. Pedrosa said he was impressed when he uncovered her images in the archives of a local university. “It feels like new material,” he said.
Collectors on the hunt for young Turks will do better to canvass the galleries popping up in industrial spaces along the banks of the Bosphorus in the Beyoğlu district. One of the biggest, Galeri Manâ, is showing Nasan Tur, a Berlin-based artist of Turkish descent. Tur’s works include “Kapital,” a trio of papier-mâché sheets he made by shredding leather-bound copies of Karl Marx’s manifesto, “Das Kapital,” into a pulpy stew. Hanging nearby is “Once Upon a Time,” his collection of eight huge flags representing countries that don’t exist anymore, like Yugoslavia.
Other Biennial-related highlights include Bertrand Ivanoff’s neon installations on the old Orthodox Palestinian Christian Church and Johan Tahon’s milky ceramic figures set in a 15th-century tiled kiosk in walls of the Topkapi Palace.
—Kelly Crow
via A Lively Art Scene Aids Istanbul’s Biennial – WSJ.com.
MY travels have brought me to a huge and beautiful mosaic at Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, the gentle eyes of a depiction of Jesus greeting me from across the aeons.
My young Turkish guide, Rashid, tells me to move a few paces to the left and watch the eyes of the mosaic. Yes, they follow me. Rashid looks satisfied at my astonishment and pleasure.
Hagia Sophia was the centre of the Byzantine Empire, the jewel of the Eastern Orthodox Church. After the fall of Constantinople, it became a place of worship for Muslims. Now it is a museum and a leading tourist attraction. The face ofthe Jesus mosaic was covered when the structure was used as a mosque but its restoration is a triumph. It really is a marvellous find.
Mosaic is the art of decoration using closely set small pieces, usually stone, mineral, glass tile or shell. It was the Byzantine artisans of the 11th and 12th centuries who realised the full possibilities of the art form, aided by a wealth of patronage. Byzantine mosaicists were also called outside the empire to practise their art, most notably at St Mark’s in Venice and in the apse of the cathedral at Cefalu in Sicily.
I understand only a few minor scenes were found at Hagia Sophia. What is even more special is that during my visit the mezzanine floor of this museum is under restoration and closed to the public. It is only my audacious questioning of this closure that has led Rashid to offer to take me upstairs, provided I do not advertise this privilege to the scores of tourists below.
We keep well back from the balcony and Rashid explains that this area was reserved for Muslim women. There is a lattice screen over the end of the balcony and I imagine that at one time it would have extended for the length of the balustrade. Rashid beckons me over and I have a splendid view of the interior on my left. He leans in to whisper I should look at the dome to my right. Of course I comply, and feel a quick kiss planted on my left cheek.
Oh no. Here I am up on the mezzanine floor at the mercy of an opportunistic young Muslim man. I cannot walk away with dignity, as there is a dark and winding stairwell to negotiate in order to return to the throngs. So I pretend nothing has happened and walk back to the mosaic, musing that the watching eyes of the mosaic may have noted the stolen kiss but, like me, given nothing away.
Rashid looks perturbed. He motions me towards the stairwell and I follow unhurriedly. I keep a few paces behind as he leads me back to the crowd. He holds the door open and I thank him as I step into the welcoming light.
I roam the open-air market stalls and mingle with the tourists, relishing the exceptional privilege I have been granted. In general, the younger men seem quite at ease and a number are happy to practise their English; however,
I note lascivious looks cast upon my bare arms by some of the older Turkish men. I smile as I recall the cheeky guide, flustered by his own action or perhaps by my surprising response to his audacity.
For the next few hours I relive a spectrum of heightened emotions, of excitement, euphoria, trepidation and gratitude. It has been a most unexpected day.
Diners in the busy Istanbul district of Beyoglu are being forced to take their meals inside, as government regulations have banned outdoor dining.
Photo of outdoor diners (Image by Mehmet Ergun/Wikipedia)
The district of Beyoğlu in the city of Istanbul is a busy tourist and night-time area with bars and restaurants, most of which had, until recently, outdoor seating sections. Those outdoor eating areas have now gone quiet, after government regulations cracked down on restaurant owners who want to serve meals outside.
“Certain rumor are running around, of course,” Constanze Letsch of The Guardian told PRI’s The World. “Some people say it’s because Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan… got stuck between chairs and tables and couldn’t pass.” Officials are saying they received 1,000 complaints during the first 7 months of the year from residents who say they couldn’t pass through all the tables and chairs.
Restaurant owners are clearly upset about the new regulations, saying they’re losing money and being forced to lay people off. “There’s one solution being offered now by the municipality,” Letsch reports, “which is a 70 centimeter balcony that can be added.” Though that’s hardly enough room to make up for lost revenue.
Some owners have taken the situation into their own hands. Letsch talked to one owner who has “one, sometimes two tables outside, which is not allowed at the moment.” To protect himself, “he pays a guy a monthly fee to look out for the police so he can warn him when the police are near and he can take the tables inside.”
“There is no solution that’s right in front of people,” Letsch reports. “Lots of bar and restaurant goers are unhappy because they can’t go there anymore and sit outside, and residents or people who work in Beyoglu say well, this is actually good because now we can pass through the streets without being obstructed by chairs and tables like we used to be.”
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PRI’s “The World” is a one-hour, weekday radio news magazine offering a mix of news, features, interviews, and music from around the globe. “The World” is a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH Boston. More about The World.
via Why sidewalk dining is banned in Istanbul | PRI.ORG.
“Are you crazy?” is a question cyclists in Istanbul often hear. The city’s steep hills, poor roads, and dangerous drivers make it a hair-raising place for anyone on two wheels. But with Istanbul’s roads wracked with gridlock, the city’s cyclists are mounting a campaign to claim a bigger share of the road.
According to the Japan International Cooperation Agency, which completed a transportation master plan for Istanbul in 2009, car traffic in this city of roughly 13 million, one of Europe’s largest metropolitan areas, will nearly quadruple over 15 years.
Once a month, dozens of cyclists gather in Goztepe Park on Istanbul’s Asian side to take to the avenues. They are part of Critical Mass, a worldwide bicycle protest movement whose riders regularly swamp roads, demanding more space — and more respect — from drivers.
Another monthly ride started earlier this year at Taksim Square on the European side of the city. For Imre Balanli, a filmmaker who lived for several years in Paris and New York, two cities with their own gridlock problems, the bicycle is the only way to travel. “In Istanbul, you don’t have a good public transportation system, the buses are crowded and they don’t run on a schedule and I don’t want to be stuck in traffic for hours. So, this is really the best way to commute,” Balanli said.
But it can be lonely. Only around 10,000 people cycle regularly in the city, according to the Bicycles Union, a Turkish lobbying group. In New York City there are about half a million cyclists. “If we are visible, then we hope that more people will start riding bicycles,” said Balanli. “Whatever it takes, this is our right and we should be able to do it safely.”
PepsiCo employee Erkal Hascan experienced the dangers of Istanbul’s roads the hard way. Last year, he started cycling to work, around 45 minutes each way. “Other drivers on the motorway act as if they don’t see you. You are a ghost,” Hascan said.
After two months of riding, he was left lying on the asphalt with a broken collarbone. A bus had swerved unexpectedly in front of him and forced him to veer sharply, throwing him over his handlebars. “Did any driver stop?” he recounted, speaking in English. “They just honked their horns: ‘Come on! Stand up and get out of the road!’”
Part of the problem, say enthusiasts and analysts, is that few people will cycle on dangerous roads; and with few cyclists, there is little pressure to provide infrastructure to make the roads safer.
The city currently has about 50 kilometers of cycle lanes, including a long stretch along the Asian shore of the Bosphorus that is mainly used for recreational biking.
Murat Suyubatmaz, a former captain of Turkey’s national cycling team, founded the Bicycles Union in 2008 to lobby for better infrastructure. “In Turkey, the love of cycling that stems from people’s childhoods has not disappeared. It is only that fear and safety has held them back from cycling,” Suyubatmaz said. “If the security exists and there are proper bike routes, the bicycle will come back to life.”
There is an urgent need to diversify transportation options. Istanbul has an estimated annual population growth rate of 3.45 percent. Meanwhile, Turkey’s economy posted a growth rate of 11 percent for the first quarter of 2011. This cocktail of growing population and rising prosperity translates into exploding rates of car ownership.
“The future looks somewhat bleak in terms of addressing congestion,” commented Sibel Bulay, director of Turkey’s Center for Sustainable Transport. She believes that although the government is waking up to the problem, vested economic interests are causing the city to continue to expand in a car-dependent fashion.
A planned third bridge over the Bosphorus to the north of Istanbul has made environmentalists and urban planners particularly uncomfortable. The government claims the project will ease dire congestion over the existing bridges by allowing intercontinental traffic to bypass the city, but opponents point out that these vehicles only account for 5 percent of current bridge traffic.
They also fear that the project will encourage urban sprawl that will ultimately devastate the forests to the north of Istanbul. “What really needs to happen is people need to get smarter in their transport choices,” said Bulay.
But even the bicycle’s staunchest advocates acknowledge that Istanbul’s steep hills, sweltering summers and frequently icy winters mean two-wheeled transport cannot provide a complete solution to the city’s congestion crisis. Even so, its supporters are getting more vocal and, according to some, more numerous.
Ozan Bozkurt, who runs a bike shop in the Besiktas neighborhood, says he has seen an increase in both customers and competition in the past two years, and that the roads aren’t as lonely as they once were. “Nearly eight years ago when we ride on the Bosphorus, if we see some biker from the other side, we just shake our hand to say ‘hello.’ Both of us . . . are happy to see each other. But at the moment, we see lots of people.”
He admits to getting a kick from braving the city’s streets in the hope that one day more cyclists will follow him. “In Istanbul, there’s adrenalin. It’s a bit dangerous, but it’s really good.”
Editor’s note:
Alexander Christie-Miller is a freelance journalist based in Istanbul, where he writes for The Times. David Trilling is EurasiaNet.org’s Central Asia editor.
via Turkey: Betting on Bicycles to Break Istanbul’s Gridlock | EurasiaNet.org.
