Det kom ett upprört brev från kollegorna på INURA:

Turkisk media har publicerat nyheter om att en ny stad, kallad “New Istanbul”, med 3 miljoner invånare, planeras vid Svarta havskusten. Projektet är gestaltat av en grupp masterstudenter under ledning av Roy Strickland som är professor i planering vid Michigan University. ”Studentprojektet” var ett uppdrag direkt från primiärminister Erdogan som med denna sanslösa urbanutopi, som inte står 1900-talets stora diktaturer ett dugg efter, vill etablera ett nytt centrum i Istanbul, precis brevid den kontroversiella ”tredje bron” som samma makthavare vill få till stånd över Bosporen.

Först nu i dagarna har medborgarna i Turkiet fått reda på att New Istanbul-projektet existerade. En hel centrumförskjutning och stadsetablering för 3 miljoner människor har alltså helt gått förbi de kommunala myndigheterna i Istanbul och de planeringsorgan som finns på både regional och statlig nivå. Det finns ingenting om denna stadsanläggning i Istanbuls generalplan eller något annat styrdokument. Skulle New Istanbul bli verklighet försvann de sista naturområdena, skogarna och stora delar av djurlivet skulle bli skadat i regionen.

Kollegor från INURA, både i Turkiet och i Nordamerika har nu börjat sätta press på Michigan University och Stricklands ”studentgrupp” att förklara vad som egentligen händer. Tidigare har miljöorganisationer protesterat kraftigt mot ytterligare stadsförtätningar i Istanbulregionen, som är svårt förorenad, särskilt vid kusterna.

Jag bifogar brevet och en länk (tyvärr bara på turkiska, men man kan titta på bilderna, och köra texten i GoogleTranslate) för den som vill läsa mer om den turkiska regimens totalitära anspråk med Istanbul, som de verkar vilja hålla hemliga och på ”konsultnivå” med inlejda planerare från USA.

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Dear members of the Faculty of Urban Design at the University of Michigan,

Dear Tyson Stevens,

Dear Prof. Roy Strickland,

Since yesterday, news shocking the academic establishment and civil society in Istanbul has been circulating in the Turkish media. According to these news, a team of your faculty lead by the two famous American Architects Tyson Stevens and Roy Strickland (ntvmsnbc, 11.01.2011, please see the attachment for further translated newspaper articles of the Turkish media) has designed a project called “New Istanbul” in 2008 at the Black Sea Coast together with a firm called Konut A.Ş. This new city is supposed to be inhabited by 3 million people close to a yet controversial third bridge project over the Bosphorus.

The area, where your “student work” is located on, is not in the middle of nowhere, but in an integral and inhabited part of a 15 million city. It is of upmost value for the city, because

1.        of its forests. Only for the controversial bridge an estimated 3 million trees will have to be cut. The area at the Black Sea is Istanbul’s fresh air channel; it’s lung.

2.        of its natural resources, especially water basins are located in Istanbul’s North. Further development and growth in the north of the city therefore endangers the water supply of a 15 milion city. This danger has been recognized by the municipality of Istanbul in the master plan of Istanbul 2009, which tries to steer the cities growth to the West and East, restricting any development including the third bridge to the north. We have attached a short presentation by the Chamber of City Planners Istanbul about the impacts of the third bridge for your information.

3.        of its threatened species. The new Istanbul project will destroy Bogazici key-biodiversity area in which there are 18 endemic plants and 13 of them are globally threatened plants, one globally threatened reptile species, one endemic and globally threatened butterfly lives.

As academics and professionals, we probably share with you the conviction that

1.        A 3 million city cannot be built without extensive research about the effects and side effect of such a project. An Msc student project is very unlikely to master this task. Cities are no playgrounds and we are sure you agree that especially the future planners and urban designers should get a sense of “responsible design” in their education.

2.   Such a harsh intervention into a city cannot be decided without the local authorities and the population of the city via the civil society and institutions. The information we were able to gather suggests that you worked together with Konut A.Ş. and proposed this project to the prime minister of Turkey. The prime minister of Turkey has no legal authority to dictate the planning of Istanbul. Today, however, the citizens of Istanbul read in their newspapers about a new 3 million extension and even see the pictures of the project for this new city. This is against any democratic conviction.

We therefore ask you to inform the Turkish media about the details of this project, its aim and the processes behind it. Very likely, the newspaper reports are exaggerations and factoid. Still, we ask you to publicly distance your institution from the realization of this project and clarify its real purpose – which we suppose is educating students in urban planning and design.

With kind regards,

[INURA Members of Urban Planners in Turkey, Europe and North America]