A Case Study of the Third Bridge: An Exploration of the Impacts of the Transportation Infrastructure on the City’s Geography

Abstract

Istanbul is a constantly mutating city due to the rapid and random shifts that occur in its macroform. These shifts are usually associated with mega projects. Their significance in today’s politics is not a surprise since mega projects have always been present in the city’s ancient urbanization history. As the city’s urban fabric has transformed through these projects, so did its natural characteristics and borders. Today, transportation projects have significance amongst the mega projects due to the fact that they determine the trajectory for the prospective built environment of Istanbul. The process of their construction usually follow a cycle where the project is justified and building legislations become prone to change according to municipal ambitions and political concerns. Later on, land speculations are triggered and development of new urban areas follows. In this respect, this paper will focus on the Third Bosphorus Bridge through a geo-urbanistic framework. While the significance of human activities and urbanism upon the Earth’s surface in the age of Anthropocene is acknowledged, the irreversible impacts that the construction of the Third Bridge will have on the northern regions of the city cannot be overlooked. Keeping in mind the aftermath of the previous bridges built over the Bosphorus, the possible effects the Third Bridge might have upon the city’s built environment will be approached within the term ad hoc geo-urbanism. According to experts, the insertion of another bridge on the northern regions of the city is unnecessary in solving the city’s infrastructural problems. However it will definitely bring the deletion of an essential part of the natural reserves that will have grave effects on the city’s ecology. Therefore the term ad hoc geo- urbanism will address the paradox of transforming the geography of the city with motives solely for the present time and advantages merely for a few actors, while avoiding the long-term consequences it will generate on the city and its inhabitants.