In her Ph.D. project under the direction of Ipek Türeli, Meltem Al investigates how the entanglement between capital, ideology, and religion transforms the built environment, through the analysis of selected housing enclaves in Istanbul. She argues how neoliberal urbanism and political Islam have played a role in the transformation of Istanbul and how this spatial transformation has affected society. Questioning how Başakşehir— a satellite city founded in the 1990s, in the North-West peripheries of Istanbul—has turned into a conservative housing landscape, she analyzes the spatial and social characteristics of the selected housing enclaves and the appropriated public spaces (schools, public gardens, libraries, and city centers) in the district.
Meltem Al
