Data and discourse: an assessment of Taksim urban design competition in terms of populism and participation

ABSTRACT

This research presents perspectives on urban design competitions from both professionals and the general public by utilizing two sets of data: a review of professional discussions and social media commentaries on the competition. The international urban design competition for Taksim Square, held during the global pandemic lockdowns, generated a substantial record of the process, offering a rare opportunity to revisit existing literature and gain new insights into urban design competitions. The findings are evaluated through the framework of participation and populism.

KEYWORDS:

• Taksim Square
• design competition
• social media
• populism
• participation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Personal interview with Oktan Nalbantoğlu, the 4th of November 2021.

2. Istanbul Planning Agency was founded by the Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoğlu in 2020. The foundation aims to find rationalistic and persistent solutions to Istanbul’s problems.

3. Even though the colloquium was a public event and the recordings were published, to comply with the journal’s publication guides, the names of the speakers have been anonymized in the following part. There were six main groups of speakers; the members of the municipality, the members of the competition committee, competition participants, professionals, NGO members and public. Speakers were anonymized according to the group they belong followed by numbers to distinguish different speakers.