The potentials endowed upon space by information flows and an attempt to read an information city: The case of Istanbul

Throughout history, cities have both been catalysts of social transformation, and also the products of these changes. The period of transformation we presently are in can be attributed to social mobility, which itself is the result of information flow between spaces and cities. This information flow has reached such levels as to affect changes in society, and its perception of the world. Indeed, information flow transforms and orders space, and by extension, the city. The transformation thus affected engenders new spatial paradigms, and endows the city with renewed potentials.It must be emphasized, at this point, that cities have always been centers of information; information was created, used, and disseminated in and through cities. Thus, in some respects, space has always been endowed with the abovementioned potentials. However, with the advent of digital telecommunication (in lieu of analog telecommunication), cities have become ever more receptive to information flows. This, in turn, has endowed space with new and different potentials, and it is these potentials that the present study aims to uncover. An analysis of these potentials has revealed several repetitive themes: `diversity?, `multiple meanings?, `transformation?, and `compactness?. Spaces woven with these themes, and the potentials that they entail, have together created our contemporary cities, which may be referred to as `information cities?. This city is the melting pot for different people, finances, products, technologies, political views, and images. In short, cities are places where all sorts of information converge. The primary aim of this study?which hinges on the assumption that while contemporary cities have emerged as new entities, their conceptual underpinnings have not yet made themselves manifest?is to identify these conceptual underpinnings and to uncover the ways in which information cities make use of information flows to realize their potentials. To do so, the study focuses on the city of Istanbul, which itself is at the center of information flows, and analyzes the ways in which Istanbul is affected by these flows, how the city makes use of its potential, and whether it is able to redistribute the information being accumulated, as an information city should.The research method employed by this study is somewhat unorthodox, and is born of the unique character with which the study is imbued. This methodology/view is termed the `affirmative view?. It does not imply an unduly-positive viewpoint, but rather to evaluate the case at hand by attempting to come to terms with all views be they positive or negative. Thus, the aim of this study is not to compare Istanbul to other cities, but to propose a method through which the information city can be read with the help of an `urban dictionary? and conceptual diagrams that the study aims to produce.In the spaces of Istanbul, these potentials have been gauged using four tools, all of which are part of spatial processes: `diversity potential of the production of space? as read through the `practices? of architecture in the city; `the potential for multiple meanings?, as read through the actions of `actors? who contribute to urban processes; `the transformation potential of space?, as read through the ? chosen- spaces in Istanbul; `the space?s compactness potential?, as read through incoming `vectors?. Through a close reading of Istanbul?s spatial processes using these tools, we are able to produce a `conceptual potentials map?, the assumption being that this map provides the means for similar readings for other cities.Among the findings of this study are: Istanbul is a city where many different information flows merge; however, the city is not conducive to an effective actualization of these incoming flows of information. Thus, Istanbul is not an `information city? in the true sense. Among the reasons why the city?s potentials cannot emerge is because there are tensions, clashes, and blockages.It goes without saying that this study, performed as it was at a particular point in the development of Istanbul, explicates the time-dependent nature of information flows and the potentials that these flows bring forth. No doubt, Istanbul will continue to evolve beyond that which is bracketed by this study. However, if the `conceptual potentials map? developed herein is applied to Istanbul again in any point in the future, it is my contention that new, meaningful results will be gleaned once again.