The claimed common space, between the creative city and the rebel city: the case of Istanbul

Abstract

The last years the discussion on the so-called ‘common space’ and the ‘new enclosures’ is becoming increasingly popular among spatial scholars. However, until now, there are few attempts that seek in an intersectional and postcolonial way to articulate the spatialities of commons with the intersected systems of oppression, and at the same time to surpass the divisions between North-South and West-East. Istanbul, an emerging global city which is located in between West and East, constitutes an ideal case for the examination of the conflicts on the common space with intersectional and postcolonial way. The creative class rhetoric and the gentrification policies seek to enforce the competitiveness of the city. Furthermore, the islamic version of neoliberalism, the gender enclosures and the oppression of ethnic minorities compose the environment that usurps and encloses the common space. Against the above policies, a multitude of urban social movements have been emerged the last decades, with the most emblematic case the Gezi park social uprising in June 2013. The very important characteristic is that the rebel common space does not just limited in the confrontation with the neoliberal policies but it modifies and troubles the established divisions in the fields of gender, class, race and culture.