Mimarlık, 1963-1972: Expertise, Exchange, and Planning in Turkish Architecture

In 1965, the Chamber of Architects of Turkey contacted the Union Internationale des Architectes (UIA), asking for technical assistance for the country’s ongoing housing problem. Upon that request, a group of experts from UIA’s French Section visited Turkey and discussed the situation of squatter housing called gecekondu. During the visit, they made an excursion to gecekondu settlements and met with academics, professionals, and state officials. The Chamber’s in-house publication, Mimarlık, followed these events closely and compiled summaries of conference talks in an article. According to the article, gecekondu was unstoppable under this rapid urbanization, and in fact, these settlements should be considered evidence of goodwill and material investment. Instead of prevention, the necessary infrastructure, such as sewage lines, water, electricity, roads, and construction materials, should be provided for future inhabitants. However, the proposition was controversial because it promoted gecekondu as a self-solving problem. Also, it diminished the mediating role of the architects and planners, overlooking any expertise from universities and institutions.

This paper examines the interactions between UIA, the Chamber of Architects, and Mimarlık in providing an urban program for developing Turkey during Turkey’s first and second Five-Year Development Plans (1961-1966; 1967-1972). Locating the Chamber’s in-house publication Mimarlık at its center, the paper traces the knowledge exchange between UIA and the Chamber and how it was represented in Mimarlık by underlining developmental policies, professional knowledge, and technical development. The critical investigation of these entangled histories will attempt to understand how urban planning ideas were negotiated as a democratic precondition within the larger map of Cold War politics.