KHAS CORE Talks series continues with Deniz Halman Tomaka’s speech entitled “Urban Transformation and Local Governance of Istanbul: Municipalities’ Promotional Films”.
You can follow the speech on Tuesday, November 23 at 20:00 on Zoom.
Urban transformation projects in Turkey have accelerated with a regulation known as “Disaster Law,” -which was brought into force in 2012. Today, Istanbul, the biggest city in Turkey, experiences a grand transformation. Along with the turmoil of construction, there have appeared simultaneously many forms of urban projects. Gecekondus of Istanbul became the center of urban transformation projects, and the municipalities obtained many responsibilities in the process. In this research, three densely populated areas -Esenler, Gaziosmanpaşa, and Beyoğlu, are selected regarding the municipalities’ role, urban transformation status, and active digital media usage.
This talk will focus on the municipalities’ responsibilities and perspectives towards urbanization through their official promotional films. In these films, municipalities point out the fear of earthquake risk while addressing a hope of a new lifestyle. It is tented to create a living space for middle-class residents in “gecekondu” areas by instrumentalizing the fear of a natural disaster. Authority was addressed as a feature of trust.
Deniz Halman Tomaka received her B.A. from Istanbul University in Sociology Department. She obtained her M.A. in Sociology from Istanbul Bilgi University. Her thesis title is “Semiotic Analysis of Urban Transformation Promotional Films of Municipalities in Istanbul.” She continues her education as a Ph. D. candidate at Kadir Has University, Communication Studies Program. She is a Visiting Lecturer at Core Program, Kadir Has University.