Sustainable Urban Design and Urban Empires

*Hulki Cevizoğlu*

#### **Abstract**

In this chapter, structural changes (both building and human structures) in metropolises in our age, which is defined as late modernity, postmodernity, or fluid modernity, are discussed. Discriminatory growth between cities, primate city formations, growth, collapses, depressions, migration, marginalization, freedoms, gentrification studies, security, surveillance and sustainable urban design, and environmental policies are among the main research topics. In addition, a new concept is introduced to the literature as "Urban Empires."

**Keywords:** urban empires, modernity, structural change, freedom, sustainable urban design

#### **1. Introduction**

 Bauman argues that his sociology is "a way of thinking about human world." Mills places "sociological imagination" at the basis of sociological thought and analysis. When the developmental process of the modern society is taken into consideration, the place of the classics introduces the problematic of "how society needs to understand its historical origins" [1].

This presentation aims to discuss the realities experienced in the contemporary world with the sociological theories of the classical period by referring to the concepts such as "poverty, hunger, new colonialism, migration, technological changes, globalization, inequalities, polarization of economic sources, and human rights."

#### **2. Transformation**

 The title above does not include Kafka's "*Metamorphosis,*" it rather naturally includes social and urban sociological transformation. The world has evolved from the bipolar world of the "cold war" period to the unipolar world upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Later, the electronic and internet revolution has made the world a "global village." The geographical, physical, economic, and electronic borders are shattered. In the expressions of Hardt and Negri, the "*Empire*" has been formed:

The hegemony has achieved a new form, and this form is composed of a series of national and supranational organs united under one type of governing logic. This type of new global hegemony is the thing we call the empire [2].

The age of empire has started after passing through the twilight of modern sovereignty. Contrary to imperialism, the empire does not create a center of power based on land; it also does not rely on fixed borders or obstacles. The empire is a mechanism of government without a center and home including the whole globe into its own open and expanding borders. The empire manages hybrid identities, flexible hierarchies, and multiple exchanges through its changing commanding networks [2].

These developments have made the already existing metropolises in the liberal world more important. Besides the developments at the global level, at the local level, "*urban empires*" are formed which are called as metropolis. While including the stock exchange, centers of finance and international trade, and company headquarters, they also continue to be centers of political attraction. Being a metropolis does not just mean getting crowded populations; at the same time, it also means being one of the capitalist centers.

 Metropolitanization also means hegemony of majority and destruction of homogeneity. In the previous centuries, everything about the physical environment was thought by taking the physical environment having homogeneity and cohesion of identity into consideration. The homogeneity of the past now has become a dream. The cities are becoming heterogeneous considerably both in the social and cultural meaning [3].

 The metropolises (urban empires) have turned into the application grounds of "*society of control*" and "*biopower*" if we use the Foucauldian concepts. These urban empires include not just "lethal weapons" just it happens in the global Empire of Hardt and Negri, they also naturally include styles such as "moral intervention" and "corporate intervention." Crowds exist in the "urban empires" called metropolis, however it is debatable whether the "public" exists or not. I believe the words that Deleuze has said in general terms, "*The public does not exist anymore, or it does not exist yet … the public is missing*" [2] are also valid for the metropolitan life.

This point is exactly the place where Bauman and Lyon's concept of "*liquid surveillance*" comes into play. The contemporary modern societies appear so changeable that it may be argued that these societies are at the "liquid" state. Contemporary citizens, workers, consumers, and travelers who are always on the move but lack certainty and limits realize that their movements are monitored, watched, and followed. The current situation can be described as "late" modernity, "postmodernity" or in a more colorful way "liquid" modernity [4].

 One of the sociologists who made great contributions to the development of urban sociology by analyzing the impact of metropolises on the individual is Simmel. Simmel indicates that in "*modernity which he perceives as the scientific and technological age,*" the individual has lost its inner security, and experienced a tension anxiety and panic originating from the excitement and complexity of the modern life. According to Simmel, who indicates that this anxiety is most definitely observed in the urban life, the chaos, competition, disloyalty of the metropolises against personal relations, and thoughts push the individuals into desperation and *bring them to the edge of neurosis* [5]. According to him, perhaps there is no other spiritual phenomenon which is directly related to the metropolis than the attitude of "*blasé*" [5]. The city establishes a deep contrast between itself and the small town and rural life regarding the sensual bases of spiritual life with its whole economic, occupational and social pace, and variety with each passage from the street. The metropolis *obligates the individual, as a creature who is addicted to differences, to consciousness* more than required by the rural life [5]. First and foremost, the increase of intellectuality in the metropolis appears to originate from this. Thus, *stupid people who are not intellectually very bright generally do not get tired of the world* [5]. According to Simmel, "*the life in metropolises is actually intellectualist.*"

#### **3. Urban empire of Istanbul**

 Since the 1950s, Turkey has experienced a salient economic growth and industrialization which took place due to foreign debt because of mechanization in agriculture and thusly formation of unemployment in rural areas and the new economic policy of the Democratic Party of Turkey which came to power attempting to connect with the international capital. The need for labor was attempted to be met by the migrant unemployed coming from the rural areas. The migration from the rural areas to the cities increased as employment was created for those who were coming to the cities through migration. This situation has created a problem in our country just like it happens in all metropolises of the world. The development in Istanbul, which is Turkey's metropolis: The leather, textile, and cement businesses gathered at Zeytinburnu due to the decisions taken regarding "spatial location of industries" sometime before that. There was no room at the rooms for singles, and the population shifted to those places surrounding the industrial core. Initially, makeshift barracks were made, and as inspections are not sufficient, settlements have started in agricultural areas. The factory owners were happy because the workers have found such solutions, and this did not affect the wages and the workers were able to come to work. The second biggest ghetto zone was Taşlıtarla which was established next to Eyüp and Rami which were largeand medium-sized industrial complexes, and the district of Kağıthane followed Taşlıtarla which developed industrially [6].

 Currently, many cities have become metropolises in Turkey. Among those, Istanbul competes with other cities of the world. Cities which have exceeded a certain size are called metropolises. In every country, the concept of metropolis changes according to the population. In the feudal period, the neighborhoods and cities formed around bazaars used to be the centers of agricultural products and commerce, they have become the centers of industry in the capitalist period. In capitalism, which means the separation from the feudal period where the workplace and residence used to be united, the population has shifted from the urban centers to the suburbs where living expenses were cheaper. Initially, the middle class and upper middle-class suburbs emerged on the steamship and railway route where people who work at the center of the city and later returned their homes at the night (Suadiye, Erenköy ya da Emirgan, Yeniköy, Yeşilköy). Later on, the industrial suburbs are created alongside with the residential areas around the industries which outflowed the city (Paşabahçe, Alibeyköy, Mahmutbey region) [7].

Today, Tokyo is the largest metropolis of the world with a population more than 30 million; however, it is estimated that Mumbai in India and Shanghai in China will become giant metropolises with populations exceeding 40 millions [3]. One of the characteristics of metropolitanization is that it creates *stratification* and makes the lower and upper income groups more salient. Over time, this separation reflects on the locations of residences and according to stratification, upper, middle-, and lower income group areas are formed [7].

 Direction of urbanization towards metropolises in underdeveloped countries takes place in two forms. The first one is the excessive growth of the single big city against other. Examples of such cities which are "*Primate City*" are Cairo, Caracas, Tehran, Santiago, Karachi, Dakar, and Istanbul ("*Single big urban law*" is the conceptualization of Mark Jefferson [8]). The second one is based on the existence of a relationship between the sizes of the city and the rank order of those cities in terms of size. There are no big differences between the biggest city and the second and third biggest cities. This situation stands out in places which are ruled by decentralization [9]. ("*Primate City" is the city which is disproportionately larger than others among the cities in a country or a region.*) It is the city which gathers the biggest part

of the country where the political, intellectual, or economic life is concentrated. It is the city which is dominant in the settlement order of the country. This is called the *king impact*. In some countries, its number may be more than one while in some other countries it does not exist.

The level of information obtained through new technologies has become an economic commodity, due to the means of communication each section of the economic commodity has started to be manufactured in a different country, and this has caused the transformation of the Fordist industry. Currently, the dependency of the manufacturing and industries is at the lowest level, spatial preference has become flexible, and *the global centers* used to be a few but they have increased since the 1990s and they have spread all around the world. The metropolises that are attached to the global system become salient. And the spaces that are unable to join the network continue their traditional structures [10].

The phenomenon of metropolitanization brings to mind Lewis Mumford's thesis about the city. According to Mumford, there is a process which follows the "growth" and "collapse" period. It would turn into metropolis from the polis, and later into megapolis and finally into *necropolis, namely a graveyard city* [10].

This view conflicts with Simmel's views. According to Simmel growth, conflict and separation feed the metropolis: the metropolitan type human develops an organ that would protect itself against threatening currents and disharmony at the external environment that would separate it from its roots. It provides its reactions with its brain, not with its heart. Here, it undertakes an awareness whose spiritual privilege increase. Namely, the metropolitan life is at the basis of the increasing awareness and dominance of intelligence/intellectualism of the metropolitan human… The thing which appears as a direct separation in the metropolitan life is just one of its most basic types of socialization [5]. According to Simmel, *metropolitanization is also freedom!* 

It may be said that the things that make the metropolis as the center of freedom are its direct size and abundance of number of people by thinking the universal historical connection between the expansion of the periphery and the personal internal and external freedom [5]. The cities, which are smaller than Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir that are the three big metropolitan cities in Turkey, are becoming big cities by getting migration after the 1980s.

#### **4. Migration, marginalization, and depression locations**

The metropolises have many problems including primarily the overpopulation and other problems related to overpopulation. Among those problems, air pollution, security, traffic, health problems, high cost of living, and *dehumanization*  stand out. The urban depression areas are formed which are separated from the cities due to migration, poverty, and unemployment. The manufacturing facilities such as the industrial facilities and workshops are moved to outside of the city and the depression locations emerged in places where the business areas are vacated. Problems are observed in the urban center originating from the poor residential areas where the migrants heavily reside. These inner city areas which are attractive for migrants and low-income sections are the places where poverty becomes permanent. In Istanbul, locations such as Eminönü, Süleymaniye, Kasımpaşa, Gedikpaşa, Balat, and Tarlabaşı have become depression areas [11].

The most basic theories that explain migration are *the push and pull theories*. The pushing impact of the living conditions in the rural areas and the pulling impact of the better real wages urge people to move to the big cities, and again high cost

*Sustainable Urban Design and Urban Empires DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.87836* 

 of living, unemployment, inability to benefit from services push people to the big cities. Although nowadays, internal migration has relatively decreased, the previous problems still continue. Those who come to the cities from a culture where community structure and face to face relations dominate live in neighborhoods where fellow countrymen are intense in number and they form new communities and fellow countrymen associations. For instance, approximately one-third of all civil society associations in Ankara are fellow countrymen associations and foundations [12]. When a group of fellow countrymen establishes an association, other groups which are in interaction with that specific group of fellow countrymen also engage in a race of status [13].

In the neighborhoods, from time to time collective settlements also lead to formation of *subcultures* [14]. These groups, communities, or fellow countrymen associations are "buffer mechanisms and institutions" as conceptualized by Mübeccel Kıray; they also prepare the ground for illegal relations. Among the reasons that lead the immigrants into crime are lack of education, inability to get attached to the system as well as their perceptions of clan and community. The perception which is those who are among them ("us") and those who came to the city previously ("others") forms the cultural bases of and legitimize the crime and creates a criminal subculture [15].

#### **5. Gentrification**

The concept of *gentrification* has achieved a different meaning than it used to have in the 1970s. It refers to regaining the urban areas both by protecting and refunctioning them. The Business Improvement Districts in New York have been getting New York rid of waste, stench, and drug dealers in a way that might be called as "gentrification of the streets". In the meantime, the public spheres of the city are gradually closed for the disadvantageous sections of the society such as the poor, elderly, homeless, unemployed, and street vendors [16].

According to Simmel, "*the metropolis has always been the place for economic exchange and financial economy*". The plurality and concentration of economic exchange here signify the tools of exchange which may not be provided by the insufficiency of trade in the rural areas:

Money only deals with the things that are common for everyone: it requests value of exchange and reduces all kinds of characteristics and individuality to the question of "how much?" … The money, which is the equivalent of various things, has become the most frightening equalizer, because money expresses all kinds of qualitative difference between things with the question of "how much?" Money … becomes the common denominator of all values [5].

In his work titled "*Philosophy of Money,*" Simmel argues that economic exchange is a type of social interaction. In societies where money economy is dominant, life has a "calculative" character. As money quits being a means and becomes the goal itself, it creates the sensation that *"everything has a price, and everything is for sale"* [17].

 The new middle class increases gradually and in the globalizing informational society, the unskilled labor is no longer needed. This unskilled labor is gradually pushed to the informal sector and *the new urban poor* are created. Gentrification, which starts especially in Istanbul and continues intensely constitutes the most important contemporary problem. Gentrification first started in the district of Kuzguncuk. And the first big attempt after that was the Tarlabaşı demolitions of Mr. Dalan who was the mayor of the Metropolitan Municipality of Istanbul [18].

#### **6. Security and conclusion**

A significant portion of the well-known scientists and philosophers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries used to be against masses attempting revolts or having the potential to revolt by seeking freedom and humane living conditions [19]. However nowadays, let alone following demonstrations, even the *thoughts* have become readable by *those who hold the surveillance tools of the state in their hands* if we state the situation in the Althusserian and Foucauldian terms.

 Moreover, people have been subjected to "voluntary surveillance." Many devices that we use for self-beneficial has now turned into benefitting those who monitor with the behavior of voluntary surveillance (we may also call it "*voluntary servitude*" as stated by Etienne de La Boetie in 1550). (The concepts of *"self-beneficial"*, *"surveillant-beneficial"* and *"voluntary surveillance"* belong to me—HC.) The ban-opticons have replaced the panopticons. (Pan-opticon: It means *all* (pan) and *surveillance* (opticon).) It is the construction model of the prison that the British Jeremy Bentham has found in 1785. In this system, the convict stays in his cell with a hidden camera where light is allowed to pass in a way that his shadow is visible to the guard. Thus, the person is directed by allowing him to think that *he is being monitored constantly*. Ban-opticon: It means *liquid* (ban) and *surveillance*  (opticon). It is do it yourself type of surveillance. The purpose is keeping away more than keeping inside. (Instead of disciplining, the preventive concerns are in the forefront—HC.) The tools of "do it yourself" type of surveillance are the credit cards, cellphones, e-mails, Whatsapp, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, all kinds of internet use, ATMs, televisions, Google, Yandex, parking cards, store cards, club or professional membership cards, license plates, national identification numbers, tax and real estate transactions, hospital and school records, medicines taken from the pharmacy, cameras at public locations, city surveillance cameras, namely every moment of "modern" (!) life… If you want to get rid of surveillance and monitoring and if you do not want to be *the slave of the master*, you need to resign from the modern (!) life. Individuals who form the society perceive/are made to perceive the modernity offered to them not as the *Pandora's Box*, but rather as *Zeus's Cornucopia*. (Cornucopia: It is the carob bean that Zeus, the chief god in the Greek mythology, sucked which later turned into a request box which is filled by itself—HC).

Charles Darwin, who looks into the future with fear and argued that the only solution was to stop the masses by controlling them, has put forward a causality relationship which the capitalist world uses the most in justifying itself. Fear has emerged the necessity for controlling the masses by coercion out of the masses [19].

 The locations of depression pose a threat. The new economic order and the information society have pushed those who fail to obey this out of the system fast, and the disempowered sections have started to display the tendency of ghettoization and marginalization. Ghetto: A general name for the section of a city which is inhabited by any minority of a city. In the medieval times, the foreigners had to live under surveillance in certain neighborhoods. Groups such as the Jews used to live at the periphery of the city lacking public rights [20]. However, *within the scope of sustainable urban design, environmental policies and applications*, this question comes to mind: It is a clear fact that some of the neighborhoods of the city are neighborhoods of misery. However, does this justification make the political, technocratic, and architectural authorities and/or powers right while they pressure those living in those places in the name of realizing conditions which they define as "better accommodation standards"? [3].

The "*liquid surveillance*" technologies, in the words of Bauman and Lyon, have increasingly become widespread in the US and European metropolises and they replace the social life and this pushes both the Western societies and the groups

*Sustainable Urban Design and Urban Empires DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.87836* 

within them to ghettoization and creates the danger of becoming introverted further. (Bauman defines the liquid modern society as "*a mechanism which tries to make a life full of fear more livable*") [4].

Agier … was right in placing the urban ghettos into the category of "exile corridors". All of the legal and illegal residents of such places have the same defining characteristics: All of them are unnecessary. All of them are rejects and leftovers of the society. In short, they are waste [4].

Authorities who try to solve the problem of security in the urban empires (metropolises) where the masses are intense, have started to employ "*voluntary surveillance*" besides the methods of surveillance, monitoring and regulation. From now on, the liberty, equality, and fraternity demands of the society which need to be for all sections of the society are responded by public works.

While debating the "International Sustainable Structures" elaborating the subject from the perspective of the dimensions that we have mentioned above, namely the "social structures", would provide a holistic approach besides analyzing the subject from the perspective of "buildings".

#### **Author note**

This concept belongs to the author.

#### **Author details**

Hulki Cevizoğlu Popüler Bilim Dergisi, Ankara, Turkey

\*Address all correspondence to: hulkicevizoglu@cevizkabugu.com.tr

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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### *Edited by Arzuhan Burcu Gültekin*

Te 4th International Sustainable Buildings Symposium (ISBS 2019) (www.isbs2019. gazi.edu.tr) was held on July 18–20, 2019 in the City of Dallas, Texas, USA, in cooperation with Texas Tech University, Texas A&M University-Commerce, Ankara University, and Gazi University and in collaboration with the American Institute of Architects Dallas Chapter (AIA Dallas), and the US Green Building Council North Texas Chapter (USGBC North Texas). Te North Texas Sustainable Showcase (NTSS 2019), co-organized regularly by AIA Dallas and USGBC North Texas every year, hosted the ISBS 2019 special this year.

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