The city of lost vision: A manifesto for Ankara.

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What is the city becoming? Ankara has changed drastically over the past twenty years. Its rapid transformation is still continuing apace. The city shows a pattern of change that is marked by chaos, conflicts, and contradictions. Such has been its alteration in terms of size, form and structure that, were the city a biological organism, we could think of a metamorphosis. Here is the danger: to witness inertly this ongoing process and accept it as a natural mutation. And yet, cities are living organisms of a unique kind, for their evolution is determined by human will. The metamorphosis of a city must not be understood as an inevitable phenomenon, but rather as the result of actions that affect the life of all citizens. ‘The city is not a tree’; nor is it a bug.

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Is Ankara sliding towards a kafkaesque nightmare? In Franz Kafka’s famous tale, Metamorphosis, a young man turns overnight into a bulky insect: “One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin…” This hideous transformation is reluctantly accepted by Gregor’s family, which keeps him at home and copes with him until his death. Kafka’s surreal story conjures up another, more sinister kind of metamorphosis: one in which an absurd situation comes to be regarded as ordinary. A critical awareness of the city’s present condition is necessary in order to avert such a gloomy scenario.

3

Is the city turning into a giant agglomeration of residential villages? The city has already changed beyond recognition. Its population has increased exponentially; traffic has grown dramatically; rural land has been turned into a frantic building site. The prevailing response to housing shortage has been the construction, by the private sector, of endless apartment blocks in sprawling suburbs. The multiplication of residential districts fosters the formation of independent and isolated communities rather than a truly metropolitan culture. While the built environment is becoming ever more homogeneous and characterless, the scarcity of public spaces also affects the quality of everyday life. In the absence of a logic of sustainable development, the haphazard expansion is likely to breed ever more acute environmental problems and social disintegration.

4

Are roadworks the best response to the city’s problems? Urban policies for high-speed circulation are turning city roads into highways. Wider roads, underpasses, overpasses...The suburban districts have grown to the detriment of the city centre, which is stifled by congested traffic. Pedestrians must often struggle to survive, quite literally, amidst increasingly wild traffic conditions. Private automobile transportation has become the unquestioned engine of urban development. But its effect is a loss of human scale, and human speed, in the city. And a gradual disappearance of street life.

5

Has the city lost its sense of urbanity? The physical growth of the city has brought about profound changes in its social fabric. The new suburban parks have increased the green spaces of the city. However, the emphasis on recreation areas in the city’s outskirts conceals the lack of public spaces in its inner districts. The city needs more breathing space. With precious few and crowded exceptions, the city lacks pedestrian areas where social intercourse may take place. Public open spaces are mostly conceived of as mere transition spaces. The idea of urbanity itself has been swallowed up by increasingly individualized living patterns. But let us not forget that one of the first acts in the construction of the modern capital was the opening of a civic square (Ulus Meydanı).

6

Can the city regain its public sphere? The ongoing metamorphosis is turning Ankara’s city dwellers into commuters-consumers. The shopping mall, that ubiquitous non-place, is becoming the indisputed centre of social life in the city: a space for the organized and surveilled mass consumption – of time as well as commodities. The city must regain its public sphere so that its citizens can reclaim their civic pride. They have a ‘right to the city’; that is, a right to belong to their city and participate in its process of change. Only by re-connecting its spaces and its people can Ankara become again a place where citizens are proud to live together.

7

Is the cultural life of the city adequate to its metropolitan status? The lack of urban culture in our city is coupled with a notable scarcity of cultural policies. Ankara prides itself on its status of ‘university city’ and ‘research centre’. To claim this rank, the city must provide not only a more suitable environment for research and education but also a wider spectrum of cultural activities. Ankara deserves a cultural life appropriate to its metropolitan condition (a mega-city of nearly 4,5 million people); and, what is more, to its status of national capital. As many examples around the world have shown, the arts and culture can play a crucial role in the process of urban regeneration.

8

How can the city look into the future if it breaks the ties with its history? In a blatant denial of the city’s history, buildings that should preserve the memory of Ankara are slated for demolition. Some have already been torn down. And the ancient core of the city lies in a state of decay. As economic values overcome cultural ones, the city is increasingly losing the material bearers of its own modern identity. The lack of a consistent plan for the conversion and reuse of historical buildings makes it all the more difficult to claim their relevance to the city’s future. The city should not nurture a nostalgic bond with its past, but rather learn from its traces in order to envisage possible futures.

9

Who should participate in the choices that determine the city’s change? An open and effective public debate should inform the major decisions concerning the transformation of the city. Professions that are directly concerned with the urban – such as architecture and city planning – should be actively engaged in consultation and their advice should be heeded in the decision-making process. Today there are few signs of this. Political disputes and ideological barriers seem to prevent the precious contribution of scientific, technical and cultural expertise to the management of the city. But no city can follow a path of virtuous development without a constructive dialogue between authorities, professionals, and civil society.

10

What are the roles and responsibilities of architects in the transformation of the city? Architects often lament their marginal role in the main decisions concerning the city’ transformation. However, they contribute willy-nilly to reshaping the city in their daily practice. The architectural profession is directly involved in the current state of things, in which the steady rate of construction is characterised by a sharp fall in the quality of design. Together with other professionals, architects must formulate integrated responses to the city’s problems. They must regain a vision for the city; for Ankara appears to have lost touch not only with its past, but also with its future. To reflect about the city’s ongoing transformation and think up other models of development is a responsibility of architects. They should revive the innovative outlook that inspired the construction of the city as a modern capital.

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Is another metamorphosis possible? Our questions aim to instigate a debate about the future of the city. Unless these issues are urgently addressed, Ankara is bound to continue growing as a city without quality. A broad-based process of participation is necessary to confront the effects of urban transformation and envisage possible alternatives. Only in this way can Ankara regain its lost times, its lost spaces, its lost citizens; in other words, its lost vision.

Architecture Week  2-8 October 2006

Workshop: ‘Metamorphosis and the Textual City’

Names in alphabetical order… (with the participation of…)

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