ABSTRACT
Istanbul presents a variety of neighbourhood transformation, each of which has its own characteristics and peculiarities, as well as commonalities with other neighbourhoods’ regeneration trajectories. The regeneration stories of Sulukule, Fener and Balat, and Kuzguncuk presented in this book show different forms of community development with different extents of sustainability or unsustainability. Without a doubt, the number of cases can be extended; and certainly, other cases will also demonstrate the wide diversity and complexity of regeneration and community development. Based on the rich, detailed empirical findings of the regeneration processes of the three historic neighbourhoods of Istanbul, this chapter compares the three cases within the relational perspective regarding the fixity, fluidity and multiplicity characteristics of communities, community needs and urban governance, which constitute the geometry of power, governmentality, the politics of regeneration, mobility and community needs, in order to demonstrate commonalities and differences in terms of the challenges, complexities and potentials of regenerating historic neighbourhoods and building sustainable communities in Istanbul.
