Historic Process

 

Golden Horn is a north-south estuary dividing Istanbul into two parts, along which was the first industrial area of Istanbul. Harbors and shipyards were controlled and utilized by Ottoman Empire until industrialization started to show its effects. Before the 19th century, it was a harbor, trade center, including shipyards and recreational places (Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, 2000s). A large portion of areas along the Golden Horn were mainly used by the navy for military purposes. The earlier a factory was established, the more it had to serve the state. One representative example is the transformation of Feshane Textile Factory, which was originally built for the Ottoman Army in 1839, and became a proud of the state for its productivity in the late 19th century, then transformed to a private-owned company in 1925 (Canaran, 2009). This transition showed the decline and destined end of an empire in a modernized world, and the spread of industrialization – not only from one place to the whole world, but also from the upper class to the whole society.

 

In the 20th century, after the fall of Ottoman Empire, lands waited for new development opportunities. Due to the trade and transportation convenience, many factories gathered along the Golden Horn, making it the most important industrial area of Istanbul in the new Republic. With greater demand for industrial production, there were discussions about more industrial areas outside the old city wall. Henry Prost’s city plan in 1937 extended them to the northern part of the city, but continued the Golden Horn’s industrial function until the 1980s, when the negative effects of industrialization to the natural and living environment became so obvious[1] (Tümertekin, 1972, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, 2000s). Thus, in the context of deindustrialization and abandonment of outdated factories, the Golden Horn had to find a new role in the context of urban development.

 

Industrial Heritage and “Cultural Valley”

 

“Culture” then became the theme of this place. The Municipality took several actions to make this place meaningful and usable in the globalized and post-industrialized society. One action was the registration of valued old industrial buildings as cultural heritages since 1977, which reached its peak at the beginning of the 1990s. Then “Cultural Valley” program started in 2001, conducting a master plan for renovations of old buildings and historic areas. Another action was “the Golden Horn Environmental Protection Project” in 2002, transforming polluted areas into green spaces for recreational public activities(Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, 2000s).

 

Two major purposes of “Cultural Valley” are: “to re-qualify and to re-integrate the Golden Horn in order to serve for the whole city as in the past; to create and design a new zone of attraction that will represent Istanbul in the global platform.”(Yerliyurt, Hamamcioglu, 2005) It showed the ambition of Istanbul as a global city, as well as its strong nostalgia to the past. These ideas were presented in the current conditions of industrial heritages renovated in the program. However, the national ambition is not totally overlapped with practical utility in public daily life. Some of them are political symbols rather than daily activity spaces.