Vol. 11 No. 01 (2025): 2024-25 CHORO-grafies Special Issue - Informal Public Space
Articles

Border as Informal Public Space: Tracing Istanbul City Walls’ Micro-Narratives

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  • Ayşe Eda Adıgüzel,
  • Ahmet Bender Uğurlu,
  • Serim Aygen Kiştin İşcan

Published 2025-09-22

Keywords

  • border,
  • informal public space,
  • mapping,
  • micro-narratives,
  • intervention

Copyright (c) 2025 Ayşe Eda Adıgüzel, Ahmet Bender Uğurlu, Serim Aygen Kiştin İşcan

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Ayşe Eda Adıgüzel, Ahmet Bender Uğurlu, & Serim Aygen Kiştin İşcan. (2025). Border as Informal Public Space: Tracing Istanbul City Walls’ Micro-Narratives. CHORO-grafies, 11(01), 15-21. https://doi.org/10.5281/1q81re39

Abstract

Border is a dynamic existence that allows semantic changes, ruptures, and connections. While discussions on publicity in Istanbul can be addressed in different contexts, the layers of Istanbul can be unraveled in the pursuit of informal spaces by broadening the definition of "border." This article examines the Istanbul City Walls as dynamic borders that transform into informal public spaces through the narratives of localized micro-interventions. The potentials of the tectonic structure of the Istanbul City Walls define micro-scale occupation and intervention areas for inhabitants, transforming city borders into a palimpsest phenomenon. Mapping and collages are used as a method to categorize micro-narratives according to activities, contributions to publicity and tools for each micro-intervention that provides informal publicity. The study aims to bring together the informal narrative of Istanbul through the border with an alternative representation as a mapping of collages, enabling the prediction of future micro-narratives and informal publicities. 

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