Spaces & Flows: Ninth International Conference on Urban and ExtraUrban Studies

Abstract

In Istanbul, the urban population has grown dramatically since the 1960s. Yet the city was not ready to cope with the demands of the new urban population and to provide basic services. The unqualified work force started to build shelters. As all the other basic services and infrastructure, means for commuting between work stations and the informal housing settlements were not provided by local bodies. The solution to the lack of formal public transportation was the provision of minibuses carrying people between industrial and informal residential areas. As the city continued spreading and sprawling, local governments were even less capable to meet the service needs of informal settlers; thus, they overtook and institutionalized these informal solutions innovated by the new urbanites. However, being informal by nature, these quick fixes continue creating disorder and irregularity as well as malfunctioning. The research will be based on a historical analysis of how these transportation means emerged and developed depending on second hand data and in-depth interviews. The current position of the use of these means will be tried to be measured by online surveys accompanied by field studies. The research reveals how formal and informal can coexist and what kind of unseen and unpredictable irregularity they create within urban environments.