Can Megaprojects Solve Istanbul’s Urban Woes?
“The good, the bad and the ugly” of megaprojects in Istanbul
The anniversary of the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul in 1453 is never a dull occasion in Turkey. This year, however, was different, as 1,453 yellow dump trucks were paraded down the newly paved runways of Istanbul’s third international airport. The spectacle, which was also an attempt at the Guinness world record for the longest truck parade, neatly matched the scale of the largest mega infrastructure project in the city.
The third airport project, also known as the Istanbul Grand Airport (IGA), stretches over an area of 76 sq km into the northern flanks of the city. It will be one of the largest passenger airports in the world, with an expandable capacity up to 200m passengers a year. It is also one of the largest projects in Turkey, with a price tag of €10bn.
Megaprojects are a trademark of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan came to power in 2002 following a financial crisis with promises to rebuild the country’s economy. The AKP aggressively opened up the economy to global financial markets in a bid to attract foreign direct investment (FDI). Over the past decade, state assets have been privatised, and the government has used urban and rural interventions as profitable outlets for capital surplus investment.
However, with FDI drying up due to political instability, Turkish economic growth remains dependent upon the extraction and construction sectors. To stay profitable, these sectors target rural areas with thousands of dams, coal plants, and mine projects. Likewise, Turkey’s urban areas are being transformed by large investments, renewal projects, the creation of gated communities, and a boom in shopping malls. In short, under the AKP, capital has been generated and dispersed through megaprojects that have several ecological and human costs.
Debate over megaprojects
Proponents of megaprojects see them as critical engines for the growth of Turkey’s construction-based economy. The construction of a megaproject has a direct impact on the economy. It benefits developers, accumulates capital on the ground, and creates jobs. For example, about 27,000 people work in jobs linked to the construction of the IGA. Public money in the form of revenue guarantees has also been transferred to the private sector for many of these projects.
Moreover, megaprojects have an indirect trickle-down effect. In the immediate areas around megaprojects, numerous smaller scale urban developments are created due to changes in urban plans, and new legal frameworks designed to accelerate urban transformation processes. Due to the IGA’s location in a sensitive ecological reserve, the status of the land needed to be changed from public to private, which in turn will open new possibilities for property developers to construct new urban developments. As such, the IGA is like a Trojan horse entering an ecological reserve only to open up a wave of development.
