Mega events and their urban legacies: The case of United Nations Habitat II conference

Mega events are defined as large-scale, short-term events that attract national and international attention to the destination where they take place. They have very different effects in the cities where they take place, including economic, social, political and spatial. The permanent ones among these effects are defined as the legacies of mega events. Legacy; positive or negative, tangible or intangible, planned or unplanned outcomes for the event that last longer than the event itself. This study aims to evaluate the effects of mega events on the space and citizens in the cities where they take place, and to identify the permanent ones among these effects and to reveal the legacies of mega events. United Nations HABITAT-II conference, which is the first international mega event hosted by Turkey and the largest mega event in terms of number of participants, is selected as a case study for analyzing the legacies of mega events. The Conference, which was held in Istanbul in 1996, has an important place in our history in terms of the legacies it left to the city and its citizens. The information and documents used in the study were obtained as a result of the archive work carried out at the Ġlhan Tekeli Urbanism Culture Foundation and in-depth interviews with the people who took part in the organization process of the conference. As a result of the study, it is seen that the HABITAT II Conference held in Istanbul is an important mega event not only for the city of Istanbul and its inhabitants, but also for the whole of Turkey. The legacies left by this event have been considered as an important touchstone for many years because of the new perspectives they have presented within the framework of spatial arrangements and the new perspectives they have opened to the academic community and practitioners.