Rise of Culture and Fall of Planning in Izmir, Turkey

Culture-led regeneration is now a rising feature of cities as they seek to establish themselves as competitive cities of culture. The rise of culture impacts considerably upon the quality of life in cities. The competition takes two major strategies: mega projects and mega-events. While the main cities of the economically advanced nations go through a wide range of experiences, their successes and failures should be taken into consideration by those other cities that wish to imitate the ones leading in the ranking. Cities of the developing world, however, may meet completely different problems even during the stage of planning. This paper reviews such a case, namely Izmir, by way of stating the city's intentions to benefit from culture-driven strategies as seen through its indicators, and showing the evidence that cause it to fail in reaching its goals. The final statement shall emphasize the importance of cultural policies to be formulated on a wider perspective.