ABSTRACT
To make sense of the social and spatial transformations in Istanbul this chapter suggests a perspective based on relations between three different historic-geographical modes for understanding urban change. The recent history of modernisation in Istanbul was primarily shaped by the interplay between the state and space, while mediated by the equally powerful structures of world economy, symbolic power, politics, and habitus. Here, I delineate three different configurations of state-spaces: world-imperial/quasi-colonial, etatist-national/ developmentalist, neo-liberal/state-corporate-alliance modes. The interplay between the three and the enduring power of symbols in social spaces have determined the historical trajectory of Istanbul’s urbanism in the last century and a half.
