Today’s Istanbul, with 15 million inhabitants and an indefinable number of people passing through, is nothing like it was barely 20 years ago. A megalopolis nurtured by powers that have turned it into a showcase for their power and restyled identity, Istanbul has changed greatly in terms of size and function. This book offers a unique, fascinated and fascinating portrait of it.
The author is a geographer who has lived in Istanbul since the end of the 1990s. He has been a direct witness of this dramatic metamorphosis. In sharing his experience in the field he provides a portrait of Istanbul which is out of step with conventional discourse, while avoiding orientalist, cultural and pessimistic cliches.
Jean-François Pérouse is an urban geographer specialising in Turkey. He has lived in Istanbul since the beginning of the 1990s.