As one of the main arteries is closed, they have no option but put portable toilets at each end of the bridge, right?

Last week I wrote how the Turkish Housing Development Administration (TOKİ), which dates from the 1930s, has been affecting our lives. I argued that the modus operandi and the organization of TOKİ have caused an uncontrolled concentration of power, and I emphasized the potential loss of resources to which this might lead. I believe that the TOKİ approach harms both growth prospects and the urban structure. I complained about the automobile-dominated urban structure. Then I saw the new measures the Istanbul Municipality and Governorate initiated upon the maintenance work on the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge that will reduce traffic to a single lane. To what point does the dominant urbanization approach within TOKİ drive us? Putting portable toilets at each end of the Fatih Bridge so as to prevent traffic congestion. In fact, this proves that we are done. Let me tell you why.

Putting portable toilets at each end of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge is, of course, a humane gesture, but it also indicates incompetence. If the bridge is to be put under maintenance, the way to ease traffic on the bridge must be to limit private car use during the maintenance period. And the chief thing to do to this end is to raise bridge tolls temporarily. Another might be to ration bridge passes on the basis of plate numbers. A third way might be to use a mixture of the first two. For example, the toll rate for private cars with fewer than three passengers could be doubled. The chief aim here is to encourage people to share a ride with their neighbors. What else? A series of measures to promote public transportation can be introduced. Ferry rates instead of bridge tolls could be cut, for instance.

And what did Turkey do instead? It cancelled bridge tolls with a “sorry for the inconvenience” approach. Measures were introduced to ease the pain for those who have to endure the pain no matter what. There are two possible rationales here: The first is that those who offered these measures did not really think through the options and the issue. Second, aware of the problems about public transportation, they did not consider measures to discourage car usage a good option. I think the second point is more critical here. Given the problems about public transportation under the existing capacity, perhaps we have to comprehend why they didn’t want to push hard on the limited capacity. The reason why I said that we were done is closely related to the second finding here.

By the way, let me summarize the previous commentary for those who are wondering what is up with TOKİ: if it had been left to TOKİ, cities would probably have turned into a compilation of distant and strictly separated satellite towns. There would be no sidewalks or pavements and you would have to drive to everywhere. I think TOKİ subconsciously desires a car-dominated urban structure. There are two types of cities: those that give weight to public transportation and those that try to generate resources in order to make room for an ever increasing load of private cars. Barcelona exemplifies the first group, Istanbul the second. Istanbul is designed as a city to drive in with your private car. This is disgraceful first for Istanbul and then for those who don’t have a car. The majority that don’t have a car have been made to finance the needs of those who own cars, such as roads and interchanges. What a shame!

Now put yourselves in the shoes of the Istanbul municipality:  During the last eight years, they have taken no measures to alter the urban structure, unlike what Barcelona did in a decade and a half. Disgraceful to Istanbul, they have designed a car-dominated city that excludes people or settled for such an urban structure. Now, as one of the main arteries is closed, they have no option but to put portable toilets each end of the bridge.

This is like saying “they will endure the pain somehow or another. At least we can satisfy their needs.” It’s all about the urbanization mentality. If you are blind to these, then you deserve the suffering.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 17.07.2012