ongoing regeneration cultural projects, which assist the culture and tourism potentials of
Istanbul mentioned above.
Evaluation of regeneration projects with respect to culture and tourism
Neo-liberal movements have strongly affected Istanbul in defining its vision to be a
world-global city. While the interest on cultural heritage increases, especially related to the
UNESCO convention, the aim of attracting more investors created an environment for real
estate developers and consumption-led projects with new and modern complexes in
Istanbul. Figure 2 displays the increasing number of shopping malls, office buildings and
high-standard hotels as the new faces of Istanbul since the 1990s.
The literature on city competitiveness with respect to tourism and culture highlights
restructuring of the cities based on some common cultural regeneration strategies such as
cultural quarters, heritage sites, museums, international events, cultural industries and
flagship projects. This section will evaluate 19 regeneration projects in the Istanbul Master
Plan, with respect to these strategies.
The main reasons for the establishment of The Istanbul Metropolitan Planning and Urban
Design Centre were to draw the vision of Istanbul and to prepare the master plan for future
decades in 2005. Even though the local authority in the Istanbul Metropolitan Area has powe