Test Site Istanbul

Photo: George Burgmans

The international Curator Team has been working since 2009 with local parties in Rotterdam, São Paulo and Istanbul on current urban issues. Open and new alliances between urban designers, academics, businesses, developers and local authorities form the driving forces behind these projects. They will be presented to the public during the 5th IABR: Making City. The aim is to actually realise the concrete solutions after the 5th edition has ended.

Arnavutköy, Istanbul
The municipality of Arnavutköy lies in the drinking water reservoir of the Istanbul metropolitan region. This area is largely agrarian. But as the city advances, tension is growing between ecological interests and urbanization. The challenge is to incorporate urban developments in the existing productive landscape.

Test Site Istanbul
The IABR is developing a Strategic Plan for the area together with the municipality of Arnavutköy. An international team headed by Joachim Declerck (member of the Curator Team) is working on the assignment in a multidisciplinary and ‘multi-departmental’ manner. The problems that Arnavutköy faces are not unique. All around the world the menacing imbalance between ecology and urbanisation is a problem facing many metropolitan regions. The team is therefore working on a local solution that can also serve as an example for other regions.

The Strategic Plan lays the foundation for the sustainable development of Arnavutköy. This plan will then be elaborated into an Action Plan and a number of concrete pilot projects. It is hoped to complete these projects in 2014, in time for the local elections held throughout Istanbul.