An Istanbul That Is, Not That Might Be

Via design observer:

This is where xskool comes in – as a kind of social seed exchange of the next economy. Rather than dream up exotic visions of “what could be”, an xskool looks for social and natural assets that already exist – and grows from there. We bring together projects, however modest in scale, that meet daily life needs using the low-energy processes of natural systems, combined with the metabolic energy of social innovation.

There's a brief reference to the dolmuş system at work in Istanbul -- and it might be interesting to excavate the prehistory of today's "social and natural assets." One of the things that I sometimes think to myself while moving through the city is how improvised many of the solutions feel -- and not so much in a pejorative sense as in the sense of a city that rises to meet its challenges. There's something both vibrant and frantic about it.

Also on gardens, Paul Kaldjian, "Istanbul's Bostans: A Millenium of Market Gardens," Geographical Review (2004).