Beyond Possibilities: Re- Reading Republican Ankara

This paper aims to expose the effects of the ideological program of Turkish Republic on city planning, through the first plan of Ankara. As the new capital, Ankara was planned to be the ‘showcase’ of modern Turkey. It was to represent all new ideologies and the country’s cultural similarities with the west. At the same time it was to underline the national identity and independence of Turkish republic. To this end, a new plan for the capital was designed by German city planner Carl Christopher Lörcher. Diametrically opposed with the existing fabric of the city, this plan was built on the basis of papers and plans, on ideological aims. On the contrary, this paper argues that the city is a machine of possibilities, rather than a clear, materialized system.

• Zelal Çinar

• Architecture
• ideology
• modernization
• urban planning.

[1] A. Cengizkan, Ankara’nın İlk Planı: 1924-25 Lörcher Planı, Ankara: Ankara Enstitü Vakfı & Arkadaş Press, 2004, p.7.
[2] H.Lefebvre,Everyday Life in the Modern World, New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1971, p.70.
[3] H.Lefebvre, Critique of Everyday Life, London: Verso, 1991, vol.1, p.75.
[4] S.Bozdoğan, Modernism and Nation Building, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001, p.10.
[5] Ibid., p.9.
[6] H. Lefebvre, The Production of Space, Oxford: Blackwell, 1993, pp.101-102, 106-108, 129.
[7] A. Cengizkan, Ankara’nın İlk Planı: 1924-25 Lörcher Planı, p.p.73-75.
[8] Ibid, p.p.75-81.
[9] H. Lefebvre, Writings on Cities, Oxford: Blackwell, 1996, p.126.
[10] H. Lefebvre, Critique of Everyday Life, London: Verso, 1991, vol.1, p.49
[11] H. Lefebvre, The Urban Revolution, Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 2003, p.132.
[12] H. Lefebvre, The Production of Space, Oxford: Blackwell, 1993, p.86.
[13] B.Batuman, ‘Mekan, Kimlik ve Sosyal Çatışma: Cumhuriyet’in Kamusal Mekanı olarak Kızılay Meydanı’ in Güven Arif Sargın ed. Ankara’nın Kamusal Yüzleri, Başkent Üzerine Mekân-Politik Tezler, İstanbul: İletişim Press, 2002, p.43.
[14] Ibid., p.p.47-48.
[15] A.Cengizkan, ‘Kurgu, Tasarım ve Kullanım: Cumhuriyet Dönemi Kamusal Mekanları İçin Bir Çalışma Programı’ in Güven Arif Sargın ed. Ankara’nın Kamusal Yüzleri, Başkent Üzerine Mekân-Politik Tezler. İletişim Yayınları, İstanbul: İletişim Press, 2002, pp.77-78.
[16] B.Batuman, ‘Mekan, Kimlik ve Sosyal Çatışma: Cumhuriyet’in Kamusal Mekanı olarak Kızılay Meydanı’ in Güven Arif Sargın ed. Ankara’nın Kamusal Yüzleri, Başkent Üzerine Mekân-Politik Tezler, İstanbul: İletişim Press, 2002, p.48.
[17] H. Lefebvre, The Production of Space, Oxford: Blackwell, 1993, pp.11-14
[18] Ibid, p.p.48-50.
[19] Ibid, p.p.49-53, 285-292.
[20] Ibid, p.86.
[21] Ibid, p.57.
[22] B. Batuman, ‘Mekan, Kimlik ve Sosyal Çatışma: Cumhuriyet’in Kamusal Mekanı olarak Kızılay Meydanı’, p.48.
[23] H.Lefebvre, The Production of Space, Oxford: Blackwell, 1993, pp.81-82.
[24] H. Lefebvre, ‘Toward a Leftist Cultural Politics: Remarks Occasioned by the Centenary of Marx’s Death’ in Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg eds. Marxism and Interpretation of Culture, London: Macmillan,1988, p.p.86-87.
[25] H. Lefebvre, Introduction to Modernity, London: Verso, 1995, p.175.
[26] H. Lefebvre, The Production of Space, Oxford: Blackwell, 1993, p.170.
[27] A. Cengizkan, Ankara’nın İlk Planı: 1924-25 Lörcher Planı, Ankara: Ankara Enstitü Vakfı & Arkadaş Press, 2004, p. 8.
[28] H. Lefebvre, The Production of Space, Oxford: Blackwell, 1993,p.p.297-298.
[29] Ibid, p.362.
[30] I. Borden, Machines of Possibility, Inaugural Professional Lecture presented in Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, London, 2004.