İstanbul's Mega Projects Under Ecological Scrutiny: A Critical Assessment

Abstract

The increasing interdependence between cities and economies has led to a rise in mega projects, which are large-scale investment projects aimed at meeting economic and political demands. While they are planned for economic development, they have significant negative impacts on nature, cities, and people. İstanbul is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world and has become a popular location for planning mega projects. The 3rd bridge, 3rd airport, and Canal İstanbul are three mega projects developed by the government for urban development and social welfare. The purpose of the article is to reveal the ecological and spatial effects of mega projects in İstanbul. In order to achieve this aim, an analytical assessment method is applied using positive, neutral, and negative correlations for the selected mega projects in İstanbul. The inputs required for the analytical assessment method have identified in accordance with the fundamental principles of the eco-smart planning approach, which is established on the basis of ecological planning and smart city index. The outputs of the study suggest that ecological, social, and spatial impacts must be taken into account in the planning and implementation of mega projects. The study highlights that projects driven solely by economic priorities tend to result in negative urban, environmental, and social consequences in İstanbul.

Keywords

• Mega Project
• The Impacts of Mega Project
• Ecological Planning Approach
• Eco-smart Planning Approach
• İstanbul

References

1. Allmendinger, P. & Haughton, G. (2009). Soft spaces, fuzzy boundaries, and metagovernance: The new spatial planning in the Thames Gateway. Environment and Planning A, 41(3), 617-633.
2. Ansar, A., Flyvbjerg, B., Budzier, A. & Lunn, D. (2017). Big is fragile: An attempt at theorizing scale, in Flyvbjerg, B. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Megaproject Management, Chapter 4, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1-39.
3. Benmayor, G. (2013). Kanal Istanbul and Montreux. Hurriyet Daily News. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/kanal-istanbul (17.01.2019).
4. Berke, P. & Manta, M. (1999). Planning for sustainable development: Measuring progress in plans. Lincoln Institute of Land policy (Working Paper), p. 3
5. Borja, J. & Castells, M. (1997). Strategic plans and metropolitan projects. Local&Global: Management of cities in the information age, 151-180.
6. Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of capital (pp. 241-258).
7. Brady, T. & Davies, A. (2014). Managing structural and dynamic complexity: a tale of two projects, Project Management Journal, 45(4), 21-38.
8. Brundtland, G. H. (1987). Report of the World Commission on environment and development: Our common future. United Nations.

9. Burkhard, B., Kroll, F., Nedkov, S., & Müller, F. (2012). Mapping ecosystem service supply, demand and budgets. Ecological indicators, 21, 17-29.
10. Caldas, C., & Gupta, A. (2017). Critical factors impacting the performance of mega-projects. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 24(6), 920-934.
11. Çalışkan, Ç. O. (2014). İstanbul’da yapılması planlanan projelerin demografik ve sosyoekonomik etkileri. Gülersoy, N. Z., Erdemli Mutlu, Ö. & Yazıcı Gökmen, E. (Ed.) İstanbul’un geleceğini etkileyecek 3 proje: 3. Köprü, 3. Havalimanı ve Kanal İstanbul. TEMA Vakfı Uzman Görüşleri. Atölye Omsan San.Tic.A.Ş.
12. CAPA (2016). Istanbul new airport (Istanbul Grand Airport). CAPA Centre for Aviation. http://centreforaviation.com/profiles/newairports/ (15.12.2019).
13. Cheng, S. & Xie, S. (2011). Making eco-smart city in the future. In 2011 International Conference on Consumer Electronics, Communications and Networks (CECNet) (pp. 1380-1383). IEEE.
14. Clegg, S.R. & Kreiner, K. (2013). Power and politics in construction projects, in Drouin, N., Müller, R. and Sankaran, S. (Eds), Novel Approaches to Organizational Project Management Research: Translational and Transformational, CBS Press, 268-293.
15. Dalibi, S. G., Feng, J. C., Abubakar, S. G., Kumo, H. A., Danja, I. I., Mukhtar, A. A., & Inuwa, L. U. (2020, April). Socio-economic performances of mega construction projects (MCPs) in the light of sustainable development of Nigeria’s built environment. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 495, No. 1, p. 012046). IOP Publishing.
16. Dean, C. A., Fath, B. D., & Chen, B. (2014). Indicators for an expanded business operations model to evaluate eco-smart corporate communities. Ecological indicators, 47, 137-148.
17. DHMI (2013). Haberler – Tamamlandığında Dünyanın En Büyüğü Olacak? [News – Will be the biggest in the World when it is completed?] Devlet Hava Meydanları İşletmesi Genel Müdürlüğü. http://www.dhmi.gov.tr/haberler (15.12.2018).
18. Di Maddaloni, F., & Davis, K. (2017). The influence of local community stakeholders in megaprojects: Rethinking their inclusiveness to improve project performance. International journal of project management, 35(8), 1537-1556.
19. Doğan, E., & Stupar, A. (2017). The limits of growth: A case study of three mega-projects in Istanbul. Cities, 60, 281-288.
20. Erbas, A. E. (2013). Central business district planning and the sustainable urban development process in Istanbul. The Sustainable City VIII (2 Volume Set): Urban Regeneration and Sustainability, 179, 69-80.
21. Eren, F. (2019). Top government hands-on megaproject management: the case of Istanbul’s grand airport. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 12(3), 666-693.
22. Evans, M., & Farrell, P. (2021). Barriers to integrating building information modelling (BIM) and lean construction practices on construction mega-projects: A Delphi study. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 28(2), 652-669.
23. Flyvbjerg, B. (2017). Introduction: the iron law of megaproject management, in Flyvbjerg, B. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Megaproject Management, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1-18.
24. Gellert, P.K. & Lynch, B.D. (2003). Megaprojects as displacements. International Social Science Journal, 175, 15-25.
25. Giezen, M. (2012). Keeping it simple? A case study into the advantages and disadvantages of reducing complexity in mega project planning, International Journal of Project Management, 30(7), 781-790.
26. Hassan, A. M., & Lee, H. (2015). The paradox of the sustainable city: definitions and examples. Environment, development and sustainability, 17(6), 1267-1285.
27. Hawken, S. Avazpour, B. Harris, M. Marzban, A. (2019) The Impacts of Urban Megaprojects on Water and Sanitation Related Human Rights in Southeast Asia: Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Sydney, Urban Water Resilience Lab UNSW Sydney.
28. ICA (2013). About Project. 3rd Bosphorus Bridge and Northern Marmara Motorway. http://www.3kopru.com/eng/project/ABOUT-PROJECT/1 (03.01.2020).
29. İMM (İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality) Ulaşım Planlama Müdürlüğü. (2011). İstanbul Metropoliten Alanı Kentsel Ulaşım Ana Planı (İUAP). İstanbul.
30. İMP İstanbul Metropoliten Planlama ve Kentsel Tasarım Merkezi. (2006). Ülke ve Bölge Planlama Çalışma Grubu Raporu. İstanbul.
31. Jessop, B. (2002). Liberalism, neoliberalism and urban governance: a state-theoretical perspective, in Brenner, N. and Theodore, N. (Eds), Spaces of Neoliberalism: Urban Restructuring in North America and Western Europe, Blackwell, Oxford, 105-125.
32. Kamat, S. (2015). The new development architecture and the post-political in the Global South”, in Wilson, J. and Swyngedouw, E. (Eds), The Post-Political and its Discontents: Spaces of Depoliticisation, Spectres of Radical Politi. Edinburgh University Press, 67-85.
33. Kazancı, G. (2019). İklim Değişikliğine Uyum Kapsamında Akıllı Kentlerin Rolü: Muğla Metropoliten Alanı Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme. Yüksek Lisans Tezi. Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü. İstanbul.
34. Kazancı, G. (2019). İklim değişikliğine uyum kapsamında akıllı kentlerin rolü: Muğla metropoliten alanı üzerine bir değerlendirme [Yüksek Lisans Tezi, İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, İstanbul].
35. Kubat, A. S. (2018). İstanbul Tarihi Yarımada: Morfogenetik Yapısı ve Değişim Süreci. Türkiye Kentsel Morfoloji Ağı, 17-33.
36. Kundak, S., & Baypınar, M. B. (2011). The Crazy Project – Kanal Istanbul. 4.3. TeMA, 53–63.
37. McDonough, W. (1992). The Hannover principles: Design for sustainability. Prepared for EXPO 2000, The World’s Fair. Hannover, Germany. http://www.mcdonough.com/wp-content/ uploads/2013/03/Hannover-Principles-1992.pdf (19.12.2019).
38. Metternicht, G. (2017). Land use planning. Global Land.
39. Miller, R., Lessard, D. & Sakhrani, V. (2017). Megaprojects as games of innovation in Flyvbjerg, B. (Ed.), Chapter 10, The Oxford Handbook of Megaproject Management, Oxford University Press, 249-259.
40. Mueller, R. (2007). A need assessment for Turkey’s transportation infrastructure final technical report, TINA Turkey Joint Initiative, National Program for Financial Help to Turkey before the Participation 2003, May 20.
41. Northern Forest Defence (2015). The Third Airport Project Vis-à-vis Life, Nature, Environment, People and Law. https://kuzeyormanlari.org/wp%20content/uploads/2015/05/3rd_airport_project.pdf (18.12.2019).
42. ORSAM (2013). Historical notes from the minutes of the Montreux Straits Conference and Kanal Istanbul. ORSAM Report No: 155. http://www.orsam.org.tr/tr/trUploads/Yazilar/Dosyalar/2013520_Rapor155site.pdf (21.12.2019).
43. Özakbaş, D. (2015). 1950 yılı sonrası İstanbul’da Konut Alanlarının Oluşumu ve Sorunları. Tarih Okulu Dergisi (Journal of History School), 415-448.
44. Pitsis, A., Clegg, S., Freeder, D., Sankaran, S. & Burdon, S. (2018). Megaprojects redefined – complexity vs cost and social imperatives, International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 11(1), 7-34.
45. Ponzini, D. (2011). Large scale development projects and star architecture in the absence of democratic politics: the case of Abu Dhabi, UAE. Cities, 28(3), 251-259.
46. Rizzo, A. (2013). Metro doha. Cities, 31, 533-543.
47. Saydam, C. (2015). Kanal İstanbul’un Karadeniz’e Olası Etkileri. Kent Akademisi, 8(22), 44-52.
48. Sklair, L. (2005). The transnational capitalist class and contemporary architecture in globalizing cities. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 29(3), 485–500.
49. Söderlund, J., Sankaran, S. & Biesenthal, C. (2017). The past and present of megaprojects, Project Management Journal, 48(6), 5-16.
50. Taşan Kök, T. (2007). Global urban forms and local strategies of property market actors. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 22(1), 69–90.
51. Tekeli, İ. (2010). The story of Istanbul's modernisation. Architectural Design, 80(1), 32-39.
52. Tezer, A., Turkay, Z., Uzun, O., Terzi, F., Koylu, P., Karacor, E., ... & Kaya, M. (2018). Ecosystem services-based multi-criteria assessment for ecologically sensitive watershed management. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 1-20.
53. Türkeş, M. (2014). The Impacts of the Projects Planned to Be Constructed in Istanbul on Local Climate and Climate Change; Three Projects that will Affect the Future of Istanbul: 3rd Bridge - 3rd Airport –Canal Istanbul Tema Foundation Expert Views; Istanbul. http://www.tema.org.tr/folders/14966/categorial1docs/1244/BUYUKPROJELER20032014data.pdf (21.02.2023). UCTEA (2010). The 3rd Bridge Project Evaluation Report. http://www.spoist.org/Pdfler/diger-raporlar/3.%20KOPRU%20RAPORU_ENG.pdf (20.01.2022).
54. Vihervaara, P., Kumpula, T., Tanskanen, A., & Burkhard, B. (2010). Ecosystem services—a tool for sustainable management of human-environment systems. Case study-Finnish forest Lapland. Ecological Complexity, 7, 410-420.
55. Visser, R. (2019). Posthuman policies for creative, smart, eco-cities? Case studies from China. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 51(1), 206-225.
56. Wang, X., Zha, P., & Lu, J. (1998). Ecological planning and sustainable development: a case study of an urban development zone in Shanghai, China. The International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 5(3), 204-216.
57. Wehrmann, B. (Ed.). (2012). Land use planning: concept, tools and applications. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
58. Wilson, J., Swyngedouw, E. (2015). Seeds of dystopia: post-politics and the return of the political”, in Wilson, J. and Swyngedouw, E. (Eds), The Post-Political and its Discontents: Spaces of Depoliticisation, Spectres of Radical Politics, Edinburgh University Press, 1-22.
59. World Profile Group (2013). Turkey: A landmark decade vision 2023. Foreign affairs, September–October 2013. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ (10.06.2019).
60. Wu, G., Qiang, G., Zuo, J., Zhao, X., & Chang, R. (2018). What are the key indicators of mega sustainable construction projects? -A stakeholder-network perspective. Sustainability, 10(8), 2939.
61. Xiaolong, T., Gull, N., Iqbal, S., Asghar, M., Nawaz, A., Albasher, G., ... & Maqsoom, A. (2021). Exploring and validating the effects of mega projects on infrastructure development influencing sustainable environment and project management. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 663199.