Books by Ayse Nur Akdal
MARKET GARDENS AND GARDENERS OF OTTOMAN ISTANBUL
is study is about market gardens and their gardeners, which were a distinctive part of Ottoman I... more is study is about market gardens and their gardeners, which were a distinctive part of Ottoman Istanbul until recently. It draws on first and second-hand sources to examine the locations, physical features, and property structures of market gardens together with those who worked in there and how they were organized. Moreover, the study reveals the role and importance of market gardens in the provisioning of the city.
Papers by Ayse Nur Akdal
Spatial Webs: Mapping Anatolian Pasts for Research and the Public , 2021
This article is based on a scientific research project titled “Socio-Spatial Structure of the Sho... more This article is based on a scientific research project titled “Socio-Spatial Structure of the Shorelines of the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus in the Pre-Industrial Era: A Numerical Analysis of the Bostancıbaşı (Chief Gardener) Registers on the reign of Selim III (1789–1808) and Mahmud II (1808–1839),” completed in February 2019 at Kadir Has University. We intend to share the project with the public via a printed book and a website by the end of 2020. Designed in line with an exploratory approach, as far as Ottoman historiography is concerned, our research sought mainly to reevaluate—or rather rediscover—two bostancıbaşı registers dating to the reigns of Selim III (1789–1808) and Mahmud II (1808– 1839) through a new analytical method allowing for spatialization by mapping. The research itself was a first in the field thanks to its data-driven character, questioning a number of postulates in Ottoman historiography. Various maps of the socio-spatial structure of Istanbul’s shorelines in the aforementioned times have been drawn up regarding different aspects (Land Use Profile I-II, Occupations I-II, Ethnic-Religious Profiles, Gender, Titles) as a result of analyses conducted (e.g., simple correspondence analysis, cluster analysis). This article briefly introduces the bostancıbaşı registers, the methods employed in various stages of research, and the morphological properties of the shoreline, before going on to provide a general perspective on the background of Istanbul’s shorelines based on itineraries and secondary sources. The chapter then considers a sample dataset and map derived from a bostancıbaşı register dating to the reign of Selim III to present some partial results of the broader research, namely the ethnic-religious profiles. In the final section we discuss the various advantages and disadvantages of implementing methods drawn from the digital humanities for historical research.
Conference Presentations by Ayse Nur Akdal
Final Program of the 3rd NEHT Workshop , 2022
This study tackles the transformation of urban-rural relations in Istanbul that came along with c... more This study tackles the transformation of urban-rural relations in Istanbul that came along with capitalist urbanization during the 19th and 20th centuries by focusing on the problem of fresh food supply to the city.
At present, “the city” is generally thought to be the locus of secondary and tertiary activities (industry and services) rather than primary activities such as animal husbandry or agriculture. Historically, the boundaries between the urban and the rural had never been clear: food production and urban space had not been as segregated in pre-industrial cities as they are today. Until the 20th century, the fresh food demand of Istanbul had been met by goods produced within the city itself, as a direct result of insufficient preservation and transport technologies of the time. The market gardens of Istanbul had played an important role in the provisioning of the city and shaping the urban landscape. However, these gardens could not survive against capitalist urbanization. They shrank as a result of population rise, novel governmental projects (e.g., sanitization and securitization of the city), industrialization, the new preservation technologies, motorization, and land rent increase. These developments marked a new period characterized by a fresh food supply chain much less dependent on distance.
Drawing on first and second-hand sources, I first discuss the historical significance of urban agricultural activity in the food system of Istanbul. I then examine the de-agrarianization of Istanbul, which, I discuss occurred as a bidirectional process; 1) elimination of agricultural activities within the city, 2) moving the fresh food production out of the city. I show that the latter resulted in the creation of new “urban-rural fringes” In this light, I suggest rethinking the complexity of urban-rural linkage since the urbanization process in the modern era expanded on the rural elements as never before.
Istanbul Unbound: Environmental Approaches to the City, 2021
Historically, the boundaries between the urban and the rural have never been so clear. Food produ... more Historically, the boundaries between the urban and the rural have never been so clear. Food production and urban space were never as segregated in history as they are today. In the era when preservation and transportation technologies were insufficient, easily perishable foods such as dairy products and vegetables had been produced in and around the city. With its abundant and prevalent market gardens, Istanbul was not an exception. It had an extensive and complex urban agricultural system that lasted more than a thousand years until its gradual disappearance in the last century. My research indicates that from the late nineteenth century onwards, Istanbul’s urban agricultural system began losing ground during the process of modernization and urbanization. As the modernist perspectives of the time foregrounded standardization, securitization, and sanitization of urban environments, market gardens began to be perceived as hazardous for public health and safety, and thus unsuitable for the city. In this paper, I will first delineate a general landscape of urban agriculture in pre-modern Istanbul. Then, I will discuss the impacts of newly introduced governmental projects at the turn of the century (e.g., urban planning and zoning laws) on the transformation of agricultural lands into building plots. Based on archival research, this paper aims to contribute to the growing urban environmental history literature as well as to a rather unexplored theme in the history of Istanbul.
Talks by Ayse Nur Akdal
ÇED raporu onaylanan Kanal İstanbul projesi kentin tarım arazilerini ne ölçüde etkileyecek.
Yüzlerce yıl boyunca İstanbulluların yaş-sebze ihtiyacının karşılandığı bostanlara ne oldu?
News by Ayse Nur Akdal
Osmanlı’dan Cumhuriyet’e Kentleşme ve Emek, 2019
Türkiye Sosyal Tarih Araştırma Vakfı (TÜSTAV) girişimiyle gerçekleştirilen akademi seminerleri di... more Türkiye Sosyal Tarih Araştırma Vakfı (TÜSTAV) girişimiyle gerçekleştirilen akademi seminerleri dizisinin ikincisi 9 Mart Cumartesi günü saat 11:00’de “Osmanlı’dan Cumhuriyet’e Kentleşme ve Emek” başlıklı açılış paneli ile başlayacak.
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Books by Ayse Nur Akdal
Papers by Ayse Nur Akdal
Conference Presentations by Ayse Nur Akdal
At present, “the city” is generally thought to be the locus of secondary and tertiary activities (industry and services) rather than primary activities such as animal husbandry or agriculture. Historically, the boundaries between the urban and the rural had never been clear: food production and urban space had not been as segregated in pre-industrial cities as they are today. Until the 20th century, the fresh food demand of Istanbul had been met by goods produced within the city itself, as a direct result of insufficient preservation and transport technologies of the time. The market gardens of Istanbul had played an important role in the provisioning of the city and shaping the urban landscape. However, these gardens could not survive against capitalist urbanization. They shrank as a result of population rise, novel governmental projects (e.g., sanitization and securitization of the city), industrialization, the new preservation technologies, motorization, and land rent increase. These developments marked a new period characterized by a fresh food supply chain much less dependent on distance.
Drawing on first and second-hand sources, I first discuss the historical significance of urban agricultural activity in the food system of Istanbul. I then examine the de-agrarianization of Istanbul, which, I discuss occurred as a bidirectional process; 1) elimination of agricultural activities within the city, 2) moving the fresh food production out of the city. I show that the latter resulted in the creation of new “urban-rural fringes” In this light, I suggest rethinking the complexity of urban-rural linkage since the urbanization process in the modern era expanded on the rural elements as never before.
Talks by Ayse Nur Akdal
News by Ayse Nur Akdal
At present, “the city” is generally thought to be the locus of secondary and tertiary activities (industry and services) rather than primary activities such as animal husbandry or agriculture. Historically, the boundaries between the urban and the rural had never been clear: food production and urban space had not been as segregated in pre-industrial cities as they are today. Until the 20th century, the fresh food demand of Istanbul had been met by goods produced within the city itself, as a direct result of insufficient preservation and transport technologies of the time. The market gardens of Istanbul had played an important role in the provisioning of the city and shaping the urban landscape. However, these gardens could not survive against capitalist urbanization. They shrank as a result of population rise, novel governmental projects (e.g., sanitization and securitization of the city), industrialization, the new preservation technologies, motorization, and land rent increase. These developments marked a new period characterized by a fresh food supply chain much less dependent on distance.
Drawing on first and second-hand sources, I first discuss the historical significance of urban agricultural activity in the food system of Istanbul. I then examine the de-agrarianization of Istanbul, which, I discuss occurred as a bidirectional process; 1) elimination of agricultural activities within the city, 2) moving the fresh food production out of the city. I show that the latter resulted in the creation of new “urban-rural fringes” In this light, I suggest rethinking the complexity of urban-rural linkage since the urbanization process in the modern era expanded on the rural elements as never before.