Istanbul's Choice

Reading about Istanbul's current direction in pursuing a more globalized city, I thought of Dubai. I visited Dubai in the summer of 2007, and was amazed at the economical and cultural perspectives of the people. When the UAE hit oil in the 60s, the land of sand and sun aimed to create a new industry that would keep its economy prosperous even when the oil goes dry. In Dubai, the economy is tourism. In Dubai you can find the world's largest shopping mall, 7 star hotels, indoor ski resorts, manmade islands and incredible sky scrapers all for the pleasure of international travelers and business. To goal of the sky scrapers is not really to provide residence and citizens an enjoyable place to live, but to provide conference spaces for important global corporations and vacation spots for the rich and wealthy. I felt like there was a desire there to please the world, which in this day and age means pleasing the West. This new expansion is what the tour guides wanted us to see about Dubai, but walking in more residential neighborhoods where the common people lived, it was like a whole different world.
This paper paints a similar picture, where globalization appears to be an idea for the elites, “cultural liberation progresses in the direction of what suits the needs of the rising elites of the city, in ways that respond to their expectations of higher living standards.” What about the rest of the citizens of Istanbul? I think it is important in this day and age to think about opening up your culture, your city and economy to the world. It is important to be perceptive of what the rest of the world is up to, and how you can contribute. But in the effort to become more “open,” it seems too easy to open up in an artificial way. Turning public spaces to a façade to attract the attention of the world leaves behind the real culture of Istanbul. It would be too bad that in the effort to globalize, the views and cultures of non-elites are not taken into account. I think the paper makes a strong statement when it says that for those who don’t have the means, they “will become invisible, and they will no longer b heard except when they become junkies, deals and criminalized youth.”