Violence against Istanbul and strategies for resistance

Abstract

This paper examines urban megaprojects and slow violence in Turkey through the case of Kanal Istanbul, situating it within broader authoritarian and neoliberal urban development policies in Istanbul. Drawing on thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with experts and activists, it explores how the proposed ‘alternative waterway’, effectively splitting the city, has been critiqued as an act of urbicide. The paper offers two main contributions: first, it traces urban resistance in Istanbul over the past 15 years, highlighting how past unrest connects with the present moment; second, it analyses urban megaprojects through the lens of slow and infrastructural violence, culminating in the concept of urbicide as a form of resistance. The paper argues that Kanal Istanbul is not an isolated rupture but part of a broader continuum of urban struggle shaped by past violences and emerging solidarities. It concludes by framing urbicide as both a diagnostic and strategic lens for understanding how Istanbul’s urban policies—neoliberal and more-than-neoliberal—have produced sustained cycles of violence and resistance. Thus, I approach the narrative of urbicide as both a diagnostic and strategic lens to trace the evolution of urban resistance in Istanbul.

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