Poised at the intersection of Asia and Europe, the west and the east, Istanbul is an exceptionally global city. Whereas Hong Kong and Dubai are commercial hubs populated by ex-patriots that perpetuate their modernization and westernization (assimilation?), Istanbul is at its core multinational. Its inherent population is one of several nationalities and geographical origins.
At the gate for my departure from Dubai International to Istanbul, I could already sense this distinction. The people waiting with me represented numerous nationalities, a pluralism which fostered a sense of commonality among us.
The city itself is a fusion of old and new. Development is rapidly expanding a changing the city, but it is filtered through the historical fabric. The sound of construction wakes me up each morning in an apartment in Galatasaray, and upon stepping out onto the 3rd floor balcony, I can hear this sound echoing throughout the city as an acoustical signifier of progress. Other sounds that echo through Istanbul: daily calls to prayer sounding from countless mosques, the horns of ships passing through the Bosphorus, and the occasional thunderstorm which arrives with booming thunder and giant tree-branch lightning bolts.
At the juncture of old and new, local and global, east and west, Istanbul is already a terminal city: a bridge city of the past and future. Standing at the foot of the bridge connecting the European side to the Asian side, you become presently aware of the massive scale of this connection. Suspended far above you is a transit hub between continents, that is both daily threshold and critical crossover. Underfoot, under the Bosphorus, a tunnel project for the expanding metro system is underway to facilitate a public link. This will create a layered cake of traffic passing through a single point: airplane, automobile, ship, and train all simultaneously connecting east and west.
No comments:
Post a Comment