Aerial Photographs As Evidence and Record in Istanbul
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ITU A|Z • Vol 16 No 2 • July 2019 • 91-103 Towards a critical delineation of waterfront: Aerial photographs as evidence and record in Istanbul Gökçen ERKILIÇ1 , Ipek AKPINAR2 1 [email protected] • Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, İstanbul Technical University, İstanbul, Turkey 2 [email protected] • Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, İstanbul Technical University, İstanbul, Turkey Received: December 2018 • Final Acceptance: May 2019 Abstract This paper develops a conceptual agenda and a critical cartographic methodology using aerial photographs to monitor the shaping of waterfront as a geography in Istanbul by humans. Starting from the first aerial photographs of Istanbul until present, the gaze of the vertical dimension in geographical space holds divergent evidences of spatial transformation captured in aerial views. From construction sites to building of coastal roads, demolishing of port scapes and technological rifts of logistic flows, to large infills in longshore space; events and moments of spatial deformation of coastal space become visible and evident through aerial photography. Aerial gaze, when considered within an archeology of a developing military reconnaissance technology, is presented as an ironic tool to shed light to evidences and historical record of spatial transformation within an act of witnessing. Viewing coastal unfixity through aerial photographs are argued here to provide two different temporalities: longue and court dureé which operate in the eventual and geological time. As these photographs unveil, the material - geological body of the waterfront itself becomes the bearer of historical records of human and nonhuman relations that shape the coastal geography. The ground beneath is unfixed as it is pulled into a cartographic questioning tool of “critical delineation” of Istanbul’s waterfront. In the end, the waterfront is re-conceptualized and monitored as a dynamic geography. With this gaze, this paper suggests a debunking of oppositions of land and sea space to reframe the waterfront as an urban edge in the process of urbanization. Keywords doi: 10.5505/itujfa.2019.36097 doi: Waterfront, Aerial photography, Critical cartography, Critique of urbanization. 92 1. Introduction with the planet. In that respect the In the past hundred years of role of aerial photography is discussed lifespan, the evolution of Istanbul from with a new temporal framework that being a city with a port at its center is surfaced within the aerial gaze to a megapolis, followed a spatial looking at transformation through expansion and an increase in the scale photographs. Conceptually this new and pace of urban transformations gaze is depicted with the temporal (Güvenç, 2017; Keyder, 2013). The concepts of the longue dureé and the process of urbanization is mapped court dureé as coined by Fernand as a phenomenon belonging to the Braudel (1996). terrestrial growth and the shaping With this theoretical framework, of the coast resides in the narratives this paper initiates a quest for the of history or urban transformation. waterfront rendered as a human Within the flood of literature on shaped geography in planetary space Istanbul as a city surrounded by waters; and it frames the representational the inherent geographical uniqueness foundations by the engagement of of the shoreline was best described the images of urban transformation, as the uniqueness of its geography of aerial photographs, in particular. The a “long strait, a narrow gulf, and an paper argues that the images of aerial enclosed sea” which it recognized at photographs can be used as a critical tool first sight in maps (Calvino, 2013). not only to visualize and to document The phenomenon waterfront as an the urban transformation, but also to edge to the surrounding water bodies grasp the city and develop a critique for is often studied inherently as a place of radical urban transformation. In other development and spread of capitalism, words, photographs can play a critical via trade, globalization and the role in the production of urban visual networked spaces (Meyer, 1999; Desfor culture and have impact on theorizing & Laidley, 2011; Güvenç, 2016). In the the urban representations. Re-thinking increased need of reframing human the coastline as a space, the paper offers imprint in the context of urbanization an alternative way to follow traces of it becomes more urgent to put the urbanization in Istanbul, in particular. human question in the alterations of The representation of rapid urban urban space. Is there another way to transformation of Istanbul’s waterfront render waterfront? To what extent can through aerial photographs depicts the waterfront be re-read as urban edge? critical role of airborne viewing. This In 21st century, Henri Lefebvre’s paper, based on the representation works have been inspirational for re- of urban space by aerial photographs reading the urbanization processes. focuses on how the coastal space was And his term of “planetary space” has transformed and was unfixed despite been a departure point for re-defining it is often delineated and mapped as waterfront as urban edge (Lefebvre, a fixed line. An alternative way can 1991[1974]). In this context, the urban unveil the urban transformation of the edge as a material and cartographic coastal space beyond the conventional fold can be also read referring to mapping techniques, and challenge Gilles Deleuze (2006); in this regard, the way we have grasped the built an element of the geological time environment. In other words, aerial and the impact of human imprint on photography can be seen as a new earth is developed further by Manuel narrative to tell the story of coastal DeLanda (2000). A recent discussion change in the processes of urbanization. of the intrusion of the question over As this paper presents, delineation human and nonhuman ontology by is a hybrid cartographic-conceptual Bruno Latour (1993, 2004, 2005) has methodology that represents the paved way to set up new relations shaping and re-shaping of Istanbul’s between land-sea, humans and non- waterfront by human imprint. humans on waterfront as an edge. In The paper first depicts the waterfront the light of recent studies, the coastal as a human shaped urban edge and space calls for a broader temporality draws a brief conceptual background. to understand the relation of humans Secondly, it gives a methodological ITU A|Z • Vol 16 No 2 • July 2019 • G. Erkılıç, I. Akpınar 93 framework for the precedent use rendering, the coastlines marking of the aerial photography and its the waterfront, coastlines can be potential adaptations to urban studies. considered as dynamic lines of It evaluates the potential function growth between land and the sea, of aerial surveillance as evidence to and can illustrate material formation discover historical record in viewing in the matter of space as a planetary urban transformations in Istanbul, phenomenon. The line splitting the in particular. Thirdly, it explores the land and sea as a cartographic tool, spatial stories of elevating from the can become a visual tool to perceive, ground in Istanbul starting from the document and grasp the un-ending first aerial photographs of Istanbul shot transformation, in other words in early twentieth century until present unfixity of waterfront in the context of satellite imagery by covering a span of planetary space and urbanization. the historical generation and evolution The unending transformation, in of airborne photograph technologies. other words unfixity of waterfront in It reads photographs of waterfront the context of planetary urbanization” under construction and looks at – as pronounced by Henri Lefebvre spatial transformations to reframe (2003 [1970]) has been inspirational coastline as geographical and material for further studies. With the term phenomenon of the historical record. of planetary urbanization, Lefebvre Finally, evaluating the presented develops a holistic understanding conceptual and cartographic roots, it vis-à-vis global urban developments, presents a cartographic methodology and depicts the radical urban that uses the drawing of coastlines of developments and transformation in waterfront by using aerial photographs macro-scale. (Brenner & Elden, 2009; in order to derive conclusions to Lefebvre, 2003[1970]). With planetary what the study aims towards a critical urbanization, Lefebvre develops a delineation of waterfront. holistic understanding vis-à-vis global This tentative research can give a urban developments, and depicts broader understanding of the role of the radical urban developments and aerial photography in grasping the transformation in macro-scale. In the urban transformation in Istanbul, and context of the “planetary urbanization”, in general. the society’s complete urbanization pushes the boundary of the urban 2. Waterfront as a human shaped to unprecedented geographies urban edge in the context of over the planet from remote to planetary space densely urbanized areas (Lefebvre, Before going into the main 2003[1970]). This generates spatial arguments of the discussed roles of tensions of endlessness and questions representations of urbanization at the concerning what is urban on the planet context of waterfront through aerial require further attention in the field photographs, a potential theoretical of “critique of urbanization” (Brenner, discussion is briefly presented by 2014, 2016). introducing the concept of “planetary As a matter of fact, Lefebvre has