GSD 4405
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STAGING THE CITY: urban form and public life in istanbul
WET POLITICS by Marysol Rivas Brito
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Sibel Bozdogan and Cemal Kafadar
“Urban water issues have traditionally been approached from a predominantly engeneering, economic or managerial approach with precious little attention to the central role of social and political questions.� [Sywngedouw (2004), 8.]
Source of the cover image: Getty Images (Bulent Kilic_AFP)
Abstract Since the beginning of civilization, water supply has dictated a great part of urban development and expression. To detain the control over this strategic resource means to control vital dynamics of the city, and consequently to interfere spatially in population behavior. Due to the decreasing availability and crescent demand for water, growing cities historically had to go each time further from their own limits in order to guarantee the necessary amount of water for daily needs of urban life, operating in a scale affordable for few ones economically prosperous. The aim of the present work is to study how the political agendas dictated the physical distribution of water across the city of Istanbul, and how it influenced the urban development of the city through different periods and contexts. In order to properly approach the subject, some key periods were chosen both for being representative of political changes and for having available documentation. The first period chosen was the early roman, when Constantine the Great establishes the city as capital of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire), resulting in huge city growth and the necessity to expand the existing system. The next occasion chosen was the Sinan’s interventions during the Caliphate of Suleiman the Magnificent, when the water supply system was greatly amplified. As a comparative analysis to the two previous systems, the Melen system, under construction since 2007 with Japanese financing, was chosen as a republican example. The research was developed based on maps interpretation, but historical descriptions and previous researches over the theme were also analyzed.
Structure of the research 1. Political regimes 2. Historical contexts 2.1 Roman empire 2.2 Ottoman Empire 2.3 Republic of Turkey 3. Political characterization 3.1 Roman Autocracy 3.11 Constantine the Great (306 to 337) 3.12 Flavius Julius Valens Augustus (364 to 375) 3.13 Flavius Theodosius Augustus (379 to 395) 3.2 Ottoman Caliphate 3.21 Suleiman the Magnificent (1520 to 1566) 3.3 Parliamentary Representative Democracy 3.31 Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ&#x;an 4. City growth 5. Water-suply infrastructures 5.1 Byzantine System 5.2 Kirkcesme System 5.3 Melwen System 5.4 Comparative Juxtaposition 6. Water in daily life 6.1 Water at the Christian Roman Period 6.2 Water at the Islamic Ottoman Period 6.3 Water at the Contemporary times 7. Conclusion
pinting by Ernst Koerner
1. Political regimes
Roman Empire
Bizantine Empire Latin Empire Bizantine Empire
Autocracy Constantine the Great Flavius Julius Valens Augustus
Lygos Bizantium Nea Roma / Constantinople
1204
Constantinople
1261
1453
1922
Ottoman Empire
Republic of Turkey
Kostantiniyye / Istanbul
Istanbul Parliamentary representative democracy Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ&#x;an
476
Caliphade Suleiman the magnificent
324
2. Historical contexts 2.1 Roman empire
2.2 Ottoman Empire
2.3 Republic of Turkey
The idea that the Roman empire was simply too large to be administered by a single ruler led Diocletian (Roman emperor from 284 to 305) to share the rule with Maximian. Each division was a form of power-sharing (or even job-sharing). Constantine I reunited the two administrative divisions of the Empire as sole Augustus, and the state organization was maintained this way until Theodosius I, in 395. In 330, Constantine moved the seat of the Empire to Constantinople, because of its strategic position on the trade routes between Europe and Asia and between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Under Constantine, Christianity did not become the exclusive religion of the state, but enjoyed imperial preference, because the emperor supported it with generous privileges. Constantine established the principle that emperors could not settle questions of doctrine by themselves, but should summon instead general ecclesiastical councils for that purpose. Following the death of Theodosius I (347– 395), the empire was divided into two parts—the Western (Latin) Empire based in Rome and the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire based in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey).
As the territory of the Ottoman principality expanded, and the Ottomans inherited the administrative apparatus left by the Byzantines, a more complex form of government. By the time the Ottoman rulers became sultans, they already had far more extensive power and authority than ever after. As the empire expanded and the frontiers and enemies became further removed from previously conquered territory, the financial and administrative functions had to be separated from the military. The treasury of the sultan had to be separated from that of the state so that each would have an independent income and organization. In the beginning of the XVI century, Selim had doubled the size of his empire, and the acquisition of the holy places of Islam established the position of the sultan as the most important Islamic ruler. The Ottomans gained direct access to the intellectual, artistic, and administrative heritage of the high Islamic civilizations, and those penetrated every facet of Ottoman life, making the empire much more of a traditionally Islamic. SĂźleyman I was left then without opposition and with a great deal of control. The conquest of the Arab world had doubled the revenues of the treasury without imposing important additional financial obligations, leaving him with wealth and power unparalleled in Ottoman history.
Following a period of authoritarian one-party rule under the first president of the republic, multiparty democracy was instituted in 1950. Parliamentary democracy has for the most part remained in force since that date, although it has been interrupted by brief periods of military government. A new constitution was approved by referendum in 1982, and it provided for a strong president, elected for a seven-year term, to appoint the prime minister and senior judges and being able to dismiss parliament and declare a state of emergency if necessary.
3. Political Characterization 3.1 Roman Autocracy
3.11 Constantine the Great (306 to 337).
An autocracy is a system in which the supreme power of government is concentrated in the hands of one person. The decisions of the head of the power are subject to neither external legal restraints nor regularized mechanisms of popular control. The Roman Empire was governed by an autocracy centered on the position of the emperor. The Senate, as dominant political institution of the Roman Republic (which preceded the empire) was retained by the emperor but did not have political power. The extensive system of imperial administration of the Roman Empire included magistrates and provincial governors.
After his father’s death, in 306 AD, Constantine I emerged victorious in a series of civil wars against the emperors Maxentius and Licinius, and became the only ruler of both western and eastern Roman empire by 324 AD. As emperor, Constantine delivered many administrative, financial, social, and military reforms to strengthen the empire. A new gold coin, was introduced to combat inflation, and the edict of Milan brought special benefits for Christians, legalizing their religion and granting them restoration for all property seized during Diocletian’s persecution. Licinius’ defeat represented the defeat of a rival center of Pagan and Greek-speaking political activity in the East. In order to cement that conquest, it was proposed that a new Eastern capital should represent the integration of the East into the Roman Empire as a whole, culturally and economically. Constantine decided to establish himself on Byzantium which, despite its strategic importance, offered the advantage of having already been extensively rebuilt on Roman patterns of urbanism, during the previous century.
Sculpture of Constantine the Great Source: www.picpicx.com
3.12 Flavius Julius Valens Augustus (364 to 375)
3.13 Flavius Theodosius Augustus (379 to 395)
Valentinian was proclaimed Augustus on 364. As a tribunus scutariorum (captain of the guard), he felt that he needed help to govern the empire and appointed his brother Valens as co-emperor. Valens obtained the eastern half of the Empire. During his reign, Valens had to confront the theological diversity that was beginning to create division in the Empire. Valens and Valentinian held divergent theological views: Valens was an Arian and Valentinian upheld the Nicene Creed.
Theodosius was the last solo emperor of the Roman Empire. He had to fight against Goths and other barbarians who had invaded the Empire and failed to do it, so they established a homeland south of the Danube. He issued decrees that effectively made orthodox Nicene Christianity the official state church of the Roman Empire. In 393, he banned the pagan rituals of the Olympics in Ancient Greece. After his death, his sons inherited the East and West halves of the empire, dividing it again.
Sculpture of Valens at the Musei Capitolini Source: www.tuttitemi.altervista.org/Storia/StoriaA/DioclezianoRomolo.htm
Sculpture of Theodosius at the Louvre Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodosius_II
3.2 Caliphate
3.21 Suleiman I - the Magnificent (1520 to 1566)
Early Islamic governments were led by a caliph: a person considered a political and religious successor to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, and a leader of the Muslim community. Many Muslim states, almost all of them hereditary monarchies, have claimed to be caliphates. Since the 14th century, the caliphate was claimed by the Turkish sultans of the Ottoman Empire, starting with Murad I. The Ottoman caliphs ruled over an empire that, at its peak, covered Anatolia, most of the Middle East, North Africa, the Caucasus, and extended deep into Eastern Europe.
Süleyman presided over the summit of the Ottoman Empire’s military, political, and economic power. The overriding law of the empire was the Shari’ah, or Sacred Law, which as the divine law of Islam and existed outside of the Sultan’s powers to change. Yet, an area of distinct law known as the Kanuns was dependent on Süleyman’s will alone, covering areas such as criminal law, land tenure and taxation. He collected all judgments that had been issued by the nine Ottoman Sultans who preceded him, eliminated duplications, chose between contradictory statements, and issued a single legal code. According to Kâzim Çeçen, after the conquer Istanbul’s population was of 50,000 people, which grew to something between 175,000 to 200,000 during Süleyman’s reign. It was within this framework that Süleyman, supported by his Grand Mufti Ebussuud, and sought to reform the legislation to adapt to a rapidly changing empire. Breaking with Ottoman tradition, Süleyman married Roxelana, a former Christian converted to Islam from his harem, who became subsequently known and influential as Hürrem Sultan. Süleyman played a role in protecting the Jewish and Christian subjects of his empire for centuries to come.
Portrait of Suleiman by Titian Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suleiman_the_Magnificent
3.31 Parliamentary representative democracy
3.32 Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Since its foundation as a republic in 1923, Turkey’s constitution governs the legal framework of the country. It sets out the main principles of government and establishes Turkey as a unitary centralized state. The head of state is the President of the Republic, who is elected for a five-year term by direct elections. Executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers that make up the government, while the legislative power is vested in the unicameral parliament: the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The Council of State is the tribunal of last resort for administrative cases, and the High Court of Appeals for all others. The prime minister is elected by the parliament through a vote of confidence in the government (and is most often the head of the party having the most seats in parliament). The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature, and the Constitutional Court is charged with ruling on the conformity of laws and decrees with the constitution. The Constitutional Court can strip the public financing of political parties that it deems anti-secular or separatist, or ban their existence altogether.
The current President of Turkey (since 2014), was previously the Prime Minister of Turkey (from 2003 to 2014) and the Mayor of İstanbul (from 1994 to 1998). Comming from an Islamist political background and self-described as a conservative democrat, his administration has overseen social conservative and liberal economic policies. He was elected as the Mayor of İstanbul from the Islamist Welfare Party, and banned from office and sentenced to prison after reciting a religiously intolerant poem in 1998. Erdoğan founded AKP in 2001, leading it to winning almost a two-thirds parliamentary majority in the 2002 general election. Erdoğan’s government oversaw investments in infrastructure that included new roads, airports and a high-speed train network. Early during his prime ministry, he implemented several reform packages initiated which expanded religious freedoms and minority rights as part of accession negotiations with the European Union. The Gezi Park protests broke out in 2013 against the growing authoritarianism of Erdoğan’s government. Demonstrations against economic inequality and the government’s authoritarianism quickly spread through the country. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube were blocked. Erdoğan has since come under increased scrutiny for media censorship, large-scale electoral fraud, constitutional violations, illegally constructing the world’s largest palace on Atatürk Forest Farm and Zoo for his own use.
Portrait of Erdoğan Source: www.milatgazetesi.com/basbakan-icin-yeni-slogan/55208/#.VnCRwUorLIU
4. City growth The Roman Istanbul was very concentrated in the historical hill, being the space between Constantine’s and Theodosius’s wall occupied mostly for agriculture. As we can perceive through historical descriptions and maps, Ottoman Constantinople has expanded towards North, crossing the Golden Horn and occupying
what would be Beyoglu nowadays. Most of the urban horizontal growth happened by the end of the 20th century, due to the changes in the displacement possibilities and relative distances in the city. The construction of new roads crossing green areas also reinforced the horizontal sprawl tendency, encouraging the
Constantinople in the Byzantine Period (425 AD) Source: R. Janin, Constantinople Byzantine. Developpement urbain et repertoire topographique, based on Dumbarton Oaks Papers 54
market’s interest in building walled cities accessible by car. There was also a great change in the ethno-religious distribution of the population of Istanbul in the 20th century, becoming even more Islamic.
Map of Constantinople from 1422 - by Florentine cartographer CristoforoBuondelmonte
City growth in the 20th century Source: International centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science
Source: General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works DSI website
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ethno_religious_groups_Istanbul.png. Data taken from: *Darja Reuschke,Monika Salzbrunn,Korinna Schönhärl, The Economies of Urban Diversity: Ruhr Area and Istanbul, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, ISBN 9781137338815, p. 117-122. / *Dundar Fuat, Turkiye Nufus Sayimlarinda Azinlikar.
Source: European Eviromental Agency
5. Water-supply infrastructures 5.1 Byzantine System The construction of a water supply system for the city (then still called Byzantium) began already under the Roman emperor Hadrian. Under Constantine I, when the city was rebuilt and increased in size, the system needed to be greatly expanded to meet the needs of the rapidly growing population. Rome had springs relatively close and at hand, and their discharge was the same all thought the year. Unlike Constantinople, which had to be supplied artificially for the most basic necessities: it lacked a ground water supply and any springs were both distant and irregular. The ancient water channel relied in the gravity to lead water downhill, generally to settling tanks, to then being distributed across the city. Water towers and distribution chambers were also used to control the pressure in the system. After a severe drought in 382, Theodosius I built a new line (the Aquaeductus Theodosiacus), which took water from the northeastern region, known as the “Belgrade Forest”. Both of the systems combined travel 551km (120km inline straight) to the further point. The Valens aqueduct, which originally got its water from the slopes of the hills between Kağıthane and the Sea of Marmara, was merely one of the terminal points of this new wide system of aqueducts and canals, which eventually reached over 250 kilometers in total length. The aqueduct was completed in the year 368, and had a length of 971m.
The water for the system comes from two lines from the northeast and one coming from the northwest, which join together outside the walls, near the Adrianople. Near the east end of the aqueduct there is a distribution plant, and another lies near Hagia Sophia. The water feeds the zone of the imperial palace. The daily discharge in the 1950s amounted to 6120 m³. The huge expansion of the city’s water storage capacity in the years 406-459, with the construction of big cisterns, could be partly explained by the city’s growing population and by the increased threat of barbarian attacks. The open cisterns between the walls were mostly for agriculture; water for drinking is more likely to have been stored in closed ones. The piece of land between the wall of Constantine and the walls of Theodosius, in which the reservoirs were located, was used for agricultural activities. These land walls would have ensured protection in the occasion of a siege for the foodstuffs cultivated there and for the stored water for irrigating the land. Pipes distributed water from cisterns to residences, baths, fountains, churches, monasteries, and other institutional buildings surrounding the city. The supply was determined according to the status of the inhabitant, the scale of his residence, and the existence and extravagance of the associated facilities.
Valens aqueduct - Drawing from Julia Pardoe (Miss Pardoe)
Valens aqueduct in the city Source: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Valens_aqu%C3%A4dukt02.jpg
Comparative between the contemporary uban area and the path of the Byzantine System. In orange the Hadrian system, and in light brown there is the Valens system.
5.2 Kirkcesme System By the time of the city’s fall in 1453, the population had declined to 70,000 and the more limited resources were sufficient. Cisterns had then become the main source of water supply, because the Roman system had perished during the 6th and 7th centuries. It was restored again in 767, only to see the city network demolished completely during the Latin invasion in 1204. Mehmet II undertook a restoration of the Cebecikoy line (that of Hadrian) as far the valley below the Bozdogan Kemeri, repaired the whole water supply system and connected it with a new line coming from the northeast. According to Kâzim Çeçen, the Kirkçesme system was built during 1554-1563 by the Imperial Architect Mimar Sinan, under the orders of Süleyman the Magnificent. The system supplyed water from the Belgrade Forest and enlarged the water galleries built by Mehmet. The system is believed to have provided 988m³ a day. Initially, Rustem Pasha had doubts regarding the fact that, by conveying water in large quantities to the city, the project would increase the population rapidly and, consequently, generate other problems such as providing food for the population. The increased flow allowed the distribution of water to the Kιrkçeşme (“Forty Fountains”) quarter, situated along the aqueduct on the Golden Horn side, and so called after the many fountains built there under Süleyman. By that time, 300 public fountains were built as part of the system and, some years later, the number
rose to 590. With a length of 55km, the Kirkçesme system supplied water to the lower level regions within the city walls and Eyup, while Halkali waters fed the higher regions of İstanbul. Maintenance laborers were appointed for the repair and maintenance of waterways, and were also supposed to ensure the water flowed regularly. According to Çeçen, “As their wages started to become insufficient at the beginning of the 20th century, these people began to get their wages from the inhabitants of their respective territories.”
Kirkcesme’ nin isale hatti Source: Çeçen, Kâzim. Sinan’s water supply system in Istanbul.
Distribution network plan and fountains on the old city map by Naci Yungul
Suleymaniye isale hattumAypah kalu Ma’zulkemer Source: Çeçen, Kâzim. Sinan’s water supply system in Istanbul.
Comparative between the contemporary uban area and the path of the Ottoman System. In dark orange we can see Sinan’s system.
5.3 Melen System According to Kâzin Çeçen, “the city plan of İstanbul has changed considerably since the beginning of the 20th century; new roads have being built, and new constructions in the new areas destroyed by fires the city acquired a new physiognomy and great number of distribution chambers and fountains no longer exist. The water supply line of Kirkçesme was also destroyed because of the deep foundations of the higher buildings built on them.” Today İstanbul has 12 million inhabitants, 17.6% of turkey population. Officials at İstanbul Water and Sewage Administration (ISKI) estimate that there will be a decrease in total reservoir capacity due to the raising global temperatures and the evaporation from the reservoirs, estimating the decrease of the water potential of the city in 14%. Since the fountains have lost their functions due to water shortage, many of them were demolished during the construction of new buildings and roads. Galleries were destroyed, pipes were taken out and distribution centers were pulled down. Most of Istanbul’s drinking water (97%) comes from surface water collected in mainly at the Omerli-Darlik system and the Terkos-Alibeykoy syste. Many of the reservoirs that supply İstanbul are located within the metropolitan area and are exposed to pollution from settlements without adequate sanitation. Water quality is supposed to be controlled by conservation zones around the reservoirs, restricting construction and industrial activities. However, illegal set-
tlements develop around the reservoirs, which eventually became official ones. The discharge of untreated wastewater into the reservoir causes ammonium concentration, which deprives the use of the water from the reservoir for city supply. İstanbul’s water supply system is currently operated by the İstanbul Water and Sewage Authority (ISKI), which responds by planning and building new reservoirs located further away from the city and associated water treatment plants and pipelines. Given the growing prospection for İstanbul, the Melen System is being developed to cover the long term water demand of the city. The first phase, for supplying 268 million m³, was completed in 2007, with Japanese financing. A second and third stage are expected to provide 1,180 billion m³, doubling the amount of water supplied previously. The Melen System will bring the water from the Melen Creek in Düzce Province, located at 185 km from the city. The infrastructure, built by the Ministry of Forest and Water Management, is comprised of a steel tube of 4 m in diameter, which is inside a hard-rock type tunnel of 6 m in diameter, 136 m under the sea level. Situated between Ortaçeşme (Beykoz) and Derbent (Sarıyer) under the Bosphorus, the 5,551 m long waterway tunnel has a water flow rate of 32,5 m³/s. The waterway tunnel, completed in 2012, is the first stage of the system which, when completed, will transfer two and half times İstanbul’s current water consumption.
Melen tunel Source: Su-Yap覺webwebsite
Melen tunel - photo from Su-Yap覺web-site
Map showing the distribution of the Melen system’s structures through the city.
5.4 Comparative Juxtaposition In this comparative map we can see the scale of the interventions made in order to improve the water supply system through the years. The systems are highlighted in tons of blue according to the time period in which they were made. That way, the lighter blue corresponds to Hadrian’s system, followed by Valens, Theodo-
sius, Suleyman and Erdoğan. As we can see, the Byzantine reach is just surpassed by the Republican one. Even so, one cannot say that there was no improvement from the Byzantine era to the Ottoman era, since the Kirkçesme system demanded high technological advanced to break a barrier that the Romans could not surpass.
6. Water in daily life 6.1 Water at the Christian Roman Period Rome inherited and advanced greatly the hydraulic knowledge and habits from the Etruscans. All Roman cities of any importance had a Forum, a theatre, an amphitheater, a military barracks, public baths and the necessary aqueducts and fountains to provide water for these structures. The fountains were common in the private houses of wealthy families, and all buildings for a large number of frequenters had many of them for public service. Soon after Constantine’s administrative changes, Istanbul became the capital of the greatest empire on earth. As so, some critical infrastructure, monuments and displays were required. The city “became a magnet for people, traders and wealth, resulting in an exponential growth of the urban population. While Constantinople expanded, Rome declined.” According to James Crow, “Water was a key source for displaying power, expressed through the provision of free-flowing fountains for the population of the city and for urban baths and nymphaea (...).” “Control of water distribution provided an opportunity for the exercise of imperial power (...).” According to Steve and Sue Mithen, “All built to quench a Roman thirst, not necessarily for the water itself but for that which water brings: power, pride and prestige. Professor Inge Nielsen has described roman baths as being “as vital as eating, drinking, making love and laughing.” in the Roman world. The aqueduct then, stands as a statement of the roman identity: solid, practical and civilizatory. The huge availability of water supplies
was considered a symbol of opulence and power. In this sense, the Valens aqueduct, with its monumentality craved in the middle of the city, meets the basic need for water with the need for faith. Jim Crow suggests that the Christian decorations at the aqueducts had double intention: to protect from evil and bad luck (those located in weakest places sometimes), and to attract good fortune and prosperity. Christian signs related to ceremonials and celebrations display the reliance on the miraculous power of the cross. Crow, Bardil and Bayliss, conclude from the symbols found in the Byzantine aqueducts that “the written inscriptions were intended to be legible and, secondly, that the word, either as blessing or protection, required a reader to give it power.” For thousands of years water has been among the main religious symbols. In the Orthodox Christian tradition water is a symbol of life as well as a means of cleansing and purification. The Christian scriptural idea of water preserves a certain symbolism reflected in the liturgical tradition. Water, as a “unique earthly element capable of immediate contact with God” transmits a number of symbols: destruction, life, purification, blessing, sanctification, illumination, regeneration, new birth, redemption, etc.
6.2 Water at the Islamic Ottoman Period According to KâzinÇeçen, “The importance given to water by the Ottomans is demonstrated by the fact that there existed a Directorate of Waterworks, a department dealing with water supply of the Topkapi Palace and the city dating back to very early eras.” The great water supply system demonstrated technological achievements to be recognized by the Arab-Islamic and Chinese world. Water is part of the Ottoman religion. Cleansing of the body is symbolic related to the cleansing of the soul, and a water fountain was located at the entrance of each mosque, where worshippers can wash themselves before entering there. Hammams also occupied a key position in the Ottoman culture. They were used as places for meeting, cleaning and bathing, ritual cleansing, etc. Palaces also had small decorated fountains, which provided conditioned air, drinking water, and made a calming and soothing sound. In Islamic literature, water has a holy, a “gift from God” connotation. There are two fundamental precepts that govern the rights to water in the Shari`ah. Shafa, the law of thirst, establishes the universal right for humans to quench their thirst and that of their animals; and shirb, the right of irrigation, gives all users the right to water their crops. Symbolically, the waters in Paradise are never stagnant: they flow (unlike the festering waters of Hell). Ancient Persians had built water channels. These systems were used to lead water for
household use and to irrigate farmland and gardens. Later, after the 7th century, gardens were enclosed by walls, resembling the paradise. These gardens were laid out in the form of a cross, with the four arms representing the rivers of paradise that divide the world into four parts. In some cases, water spouted from a fountain in the center of the cross representing the spring or fountain described in the Qu’ran as the source of the Paradise rivers.
6.3 Water at the Contemporary times Water demands in Istanbul have increased due to many factors, from which population growth, migration, industrial growth/expansion, and rise of the living standards can be highlighted. Istanbul is the most populated city of Turkey, with a number of inhabitants that has doubled in two decades. An irregular and uncontrolled urbanization process follows this growing, increasing the urban areas over the green ones. This process happens without sufficient infrastructure and, consequently, has caused degradation of forest and basins inside the metropolitan area, having negative impacts on water quality. The transportation network has accelerated the changes, by facilitating the access to further areas. According to a study developed by the European Water Movement, “It is seen (…) that an operating rule based on the system concept can provide a considerable increase in the yield of the water supply system. It can be concluded that if the İstanbul water supply system had an optimum dynamic operating rule, the crisis would not be so terrifying.” Most of the water necessities of Istanbul are supplied by seven drinking water reservoirs: Terkos, Buyukcekmece, Alibeykoy, and Sazlidere (reservoirs are on the European side), and Omerli, Darlik, and Elmali (on the Asian side). They are located in the green belt that surrounds the city to the north, but the biggest investments, which have an effect on the structuring of the city, have not been realized taking it in count, and Istanbul
has continued to grow towards them. According with Geymen and Baz, this pattern of urban growth seriously threatens Elmali, whose surface water source has faced pollution problems due to physical, chemical and bacteriological pollution. In 2006, a study was developed by Prof.Dr. Vedat Uyak, analysing the “the lifetime cancer risk and the hazard index of trihalomethanes (THMs) through oral ingestion, dermal absorption, and inhalation exposure from tap water of 15 districts in Istanbul”. It revealed that the risks due to those substances
found in all the districts were higher than 10− 6, which is the negligible risk level defined by the USEPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency). The study conclded that “each year approximately 5 of the 8 million Istanbul residents could get cancer from the daily intake of tap water”. Naturally, issues regarding water quality led the population to buy water from private sources mostly when it is for drinking porpoises. It has ramifications both in public health as in social justice.
Video developed during the workshop “Mapping The Commons”, which took place in Istanbul in 2012. The video criticizes the water mannagement in Istanbul, and the impacts of the privatization tendency over the population. Source: youtu.be/8h589hD9now
Comparative between urban expansion and green areas around the city during ErdoÄ&#x;an’s government. Above on 2005 and below in 2015.
Source: Google Earth, with graphic interventions of the author.
6. Conclusion Investments in water-supply infrastructure greatly affect the behavior of Istanbul. Utilizing past examples, we can adopt a historical distance that enables us to delve deeper into those behaviors and analyze them with greater clarity. Resistance to sieges and agricultural supply dynamics of the Byzantine city changed after the aqueducts, walls and cisterns were built. In that time Istanbul “became a magnet for people, traders and wealth, resulting in an exponential growth of the urban population”. The water supply system can be considered a mile stone for the improvement of the city’s status, finally ceasing to be “a sketch” of a Roman city in order to assume the role of imperial capital. The impact of the expansion of the water supply system in the Ottoman city, combined with a relatively open religious policy, attracted a diversity of people, and contributed to showing the capacity and power of the Sultan. It also enabled the establishment of new special paradigms in the city and made it an example for the eyes of both oriental and occidental cultures. The Roman and the Ottoman water supply interventions analyzed in this research have a few main characteristics in common: (1) both utilize spring sources at different elevations and gravity to provide water to the city; (2) both had higher and lower channels, being the sources of water for the higher channels located in Thrace for the Romans and in Halkali for the Ottomans; and those for the lower channels both located around the Belgrade forest (Sinan expanded that source further); and (3) all the water sources were located to the European side.
The characteristics in common resulted in spatial coincidences in terms of direction of urban growth and spread across the territory. Also, systems built mostly over the surface make a stronger impact in the urban morphology, giving to the system a monumental aspect. Contemporary Istanbul relies on water resources on both the Asian and the European side, but mainly in reservoirs near the city itself. The Melen system could then be compared with the Byzantine system, in terms of their efforts to glean resources far from the city. Despite its monumentality, the Melen system is based on a completely different technology and urban context where the impact of the enterprise is measured mostly through consumer’s satisfaction and media advisement than through instantaneous visual impact and iconic installations. The analysis also reveals how remaining structures inside of the city were resignified over time. A good example of this can be found in the open air cisterns, that are found today occupied by sporting, cultural and educational structures, parks, markets, restaurants, an art gallery and also a night club. In this sense, it is interesting to compare the early law of Theodosius and Valentinian which states that, “It shall be remembered that none of those who have the right to use the water shall be subjected to any expenses for repairs, as it should be abominable for the inhabitants of the beautiful city to be compelled to purchase water.”, which stands in contrast to the current situation, where most drinking water doesn’t come from public supply.
It is commonly know that planning the acquisition of new resources during crisis tends to make processes costly and remotely feasible. An analysis of the contemporary context reveals that the government is investing a great amount of resources in getting water from other municipalities far from the city. At the same time, the construction of roadways towards existing reservoirs is occurring without proper control mechanisms to avoid illegal invasions. It is understood that urbanization happens through road networks, and that such access facilities are currently stimulating the horizontal expansion of the city and, consequently, higher infra-structural costs. Despite concerns about urban growth and the limitations of the existing reservoirs, the kind of expansion that looks for new resources before dealing with the issues faced with the current ones is not sustainable, and should be carefully revised. The water supply systems analyzed throughout this essay are immersed in many different types of inherent and contextual meanings. These water infrastructures improved the quality of life of the population, but were also utilized as political tools for making strong statements about the capacities of those in power. It is very interesting to perceive that even in the context of highly centralized governments the well-being of citizens is still an important concern, and there is a powerful potential in unsatisfied populations.
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Web Sites
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