Istanbul's Gated Communities

beatriz

Istanbul's Gated Communities
Pelin Tan

According to urban myths surrounding Istanbul's Tophane district, murder and robbery are common, walking around in the evening is unsafe, and prostitution and drugs are rampant. This neighborhood, where I happen to live, is an area of the city near the main cosmopolitan cultural centers of Taksim and Galata; its residents are primarily Gypsies, Arabs from Anatolia and Kurds. Tophane represents the "Other" in the urban conscious of Istanbul's residents; it is both uncanny and dangerous, a place to which urban cliches and notions of insecurity are readily attached.
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Terms such as public space, privatization, urban community, security, identity and citizenship accrue new meanings within the context of gated communities. Belonging to a city doesn't make sense anymore, but belonging to a community-one marked by shared lifestyles, property ownership and a sense of belonging-does. Herein is the new, conflicted definition of citizenship in the contemporary global city. On one hand, the global city comprises several cross-cultural and ethnic communities; on the other, the right to participate in the public sphere and share urban space is at odds with a definition of citizenship based on the form of nation-state.
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