Mapping the Marmara Region: A preliminary biopsy

Workshop | August 16 - September 10

Since its foundation in 2017, AURA Istanbul has shaped itself as one of the most innovative independent research institutes in terms of urban studies, in Istanbul and beyond. In the scope of the MARUF21, AURA Istanbul has been invited to present a survey on urban and rural issues on the periphery of the Marmara Sea's shores.

This vast region, hosting important historical layers of humankind's evolution, is also very rich in terms of natural resources and ecological systems. On the other hand, The Marmara Region produces more than 60% of the Turkish economy's wealth. In this frame, in recent decades, important investments in infrastructures such as bridges and highway ribbons have tremendously increased the interconnectivity between the municipalities within the region. On a larger scale, in addition to the existing sea routes, this continuous road system around the region has also improved the region's exchanges in the macro-regional territory.

This constant accumulation of capital and investment in the region is also creating tensions. On a national level, by creating an important wealth asymmetry that discards other geographies of Turkey from sources of development. On a regional level, by putting under pressure amenities such as natural landscapes, water resources. The recent spread of Mucilage in the Marmara Sea has been pointed by experts as signs of the human, agricultural and industrial activities impact in the region.

On a macro-regional scale, reading the Marmara region gives us some hints on its structure. Istanbul as an economical hub, a very dense industrial area extending from Kocaeli to Bursa, mining and energy production on the northern area of Çanakkale Peninsula and agriculture mixed with industrial hubs from Gelibolu to the Thracian Peninsula are defining this circular and continuous urban region's activities.

For AURA Istanbul's first survey workshop on the Marmara Region, the researchers will be accompanied by Eda Yücesoy, Tansel Korkmaz and Sinan Logie. 14 researchers will proceed on-site researches to document the stress points between the human activities and natural resources along ecological corridors surrounding the maritime basin. This first biopsy will discard Istanbul, as far as the megapolis has already been subject to many previous kinds of research. The aim of the research will be to define new potential strategies of rural and urban development in our critical age of climate crisis and capitalocene.

The studio will be enriched by the contribution of several academics that have been working on these issues, in recent years.

Participants:

Beyza Nur Öztürk (Architect, Yeditepe Üni.)

Esra Ergün (Architect, Okan Üni.)

Eren Çağlar (Architect, MSGSÜ)

Evrim Elif Yurttaş (Landscape Architect, İTÜ)

İdil Tutak (Architect, MEF)

Özlem Kayahan (Architect, MSGSÜ)

Z. Hazal Tokmak (Architect, Altınbaş Üni.)

Azime Irmak (Urban and Regional Planner, Dokuz Eylül Üni.)

Cemre Türegün (Architect, MSGSÜ)

Sima Muhammetli (Architect -Urban Planner, Bilgi Üni.-Politecnico Di Milano)