Ecocities Emerging
To support humanity's transition into the Ecozoic Era
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Ecocity Builders
September 2009
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Welcome to the September 2009 edition of Ecocities Emerging, an initiative of Ecocity Builders and the International Ecocity Conference Series.
Preparations for Ecocity World Summit 2009, December 13-15 in Istanbul continue to ramp up. Our keynote speaker line-up features some of the best ecocity practitioners out there. The first call for abstracts resulted in nearly 100 papers being accepted representing 27 countries. The academic sessions will run concurrently alongside the main sessions this year and will be open to all conference delegates.
In addition to dynamic keynotes, inspiring round tables, the Ecocity Challenge and an international showcase of academic excellence and emerging talent, delegates will enjoy the legendary delights of Istanbul and learn about the history of this cosmopolitan crossroads. Among other special events planned you'll be treated to a gala dinner on the beautiful Bosphorus and a day of technical tours.
A high priority conference objective is to leverage Ecocity 2009 to send a message to the United Nations climate change conference that will be concurrently convening in Copenhagen. We're arranging for a live feed from COP15, working with an Istanbul media team and some of our journalist friends and contacts who will be our conference counterparts in Copenhagen. To date, the UN series has not seriously looked at the form and function of the built environment as an engine of both climate change and climate solutions. If we are successful, we will influence COP15 towards a deeper discussion of the underlying problems and solutions of the planet's environmental crisis.
To the future,
Kirstin Miller, Ecocity Builders
Keeper of the International Ecocity Conference Series
ECOCITY MEDIA
Posts, projects and people
Ecocity World Summit 2009 Website
Register for the conference
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The
Ecozoic Era refers to a vision, first promoted by cosmologist Thomas
Berry, of an emerging epoch when humanity lives in a mutually enriching
relationship with the larger community of life on Earth.
Will
we be able to make the transition in time to retain a biosphere healthy
enough to regenerate living systems now under extreme stress? Our role in exploring ecocities is to clarify a vision of cities that can. And then go out and build them. There is
no way to be certain we will succeed, but our position is that there's no time to just sit
around and wonder about it: now is time for action.
Thank
you for all that you are doing to help accelerate progress toward a
civilization in balance with living systems.
Maybe one day all cities
will be ecocities.
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Ecocity World Summit
December 13 -15, 2009, Istanbul
When you hear over 50% of people now live in cities consider that probably over 95% live in cities, towns and villages. Caves, home on the range and hunter-gather walk-abouts just aren't what they used to be.
Well then, if everybody lives in the "built environment," how then is it built?
Answer: Badly, and as the largest creation of humanity, the built environment, especially its city form, is by far the largest cause of climate change, habit destruction and the collapse of species around the globe in urban expansion. Excuse me - SUB-urban, automobile dependent expansion. For the car city is destroying the world. Not just by itself but with its partners: low density development, paving and cheap energy (which won't be much longer).
Facing this reality with the idea that we can build cities that actually build soil, regenerate biodiversity and cool the Earth by making room for massive reforestation on our over-stressed planet with its gathering fever - that could make for an interesting conference.
The place is one of the most interesting in the world, one might say fascinating, exotic, amazing: Istanbul, Turkey, cross roads and cross waters of worlds ancient and modern and troubled and future.
Consider this: Cities are the single largest source of carbon emissions contributing to climate change, but city dwellers on average have lower carbon footprints per capita than their rural counterparts because they rely much less on cars.
And consider this too: If Washington D.C. were to be transformed into a high-density public transit and pedestrian centric city, its current annual per capita carbon emissions (19.7 tons of CO2) could be reduced to resemble those of Barcelona (3.4) or Rio de Janeiro (2.3).
But enough about that - now what about us?
Ecocity 2009 in Istanbul will bring together visionary architects, planners, designers, policy makers, green businesses, nonprofits and civic leaders from China, Australia, Canada, Germany, Malaysia, France, Nepal, Egypt, India, Greece, USA, Singapore, Brazil, Kenya, of course Turkey and many other countries. The conference will stream live feeds from the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, connecting the pivotal issue of ecological urban development to the overarching goal of reducing worldwide Greenhouse gas emissions.
Meantime, back at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen which will be happening at the same time, will they be talking about the largest things we build? They didn't in Bali two years ago or in Poland last year and the subject of the effects of city design and urban layout is not on the agenda yet again. Big goal at Istanbul: finally get the climate scientists, activists, politicians and sympathetic media into the conversation about the connection between cities, in all their wild diversity from massively damaging to pretty good, and climate change. What if cities were designed from the get-go to be ever so healthy? With the real pioneers in ecological cities at Istanbul, maybe that's where the future's fulcrum really lies.
First held in Berkeley in 1990, this year's Ecocity World Summit follows previous annual conferences held in Australia, Senegal, Brazil, China, India and San Francisco. This year Ecocity Builders will produce The Ecocity Challenge, a special four-hour session where conference participants will begin to define internationally accepted principles and metrics to evaluate the performance of ecocity projects worldwide.
Join an international community of inspired thought leaders to create viable solutions that are sustainable, healthy and socially just.
Register or learn more at http://ecocity2009.com.
Contact: Richard Register, ecocity@igc.org
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Colin Grant Weighs In
Colin Grant is Founder and CEO of Visible Strategies and is contributing a regular column in Ecocities Emerging. Colin is a Speaker at Ecocity 2009 in Istanbul.
In the first article of this series, I predicted that 350ppm
of atmospheric CO2 would shortly become the new 450ppm and that the true extent
of what humankind needs to achieve by when would become all too apparent.
Well here is an extract from a somewhat breathless and
excited academic, author and campaigner Bill McKibbon, whose 350.org
organization has been pushing hard to get the world's governments to
acknowledge a new emerging scientific consensus:
Dear friends,
For once, this email isn't asking you to do anything at all. It's merely
sharing the news--the amazing news--that arrived about 45 minutes ago at 350 headquarters.
Rajendra Pachauri is the U.N.'s top climate scientist. He leads the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which every five years
produces the authoritative assessment of climate science. Their last report, in
2007, helped set the target of 450 ppm (parts per million of CO2) that many
environmental groups and national governments have adopted as their goal for
Copenhagen.
As you all know, that number is out of date. When Jim Hansen and other
scientists looked at phenomenon like the Arctic ice melt of the last two
summers, they produced new data demonstrating that 350
is the bottom line for the planet.
But it's been hard to get that news out to the powers that be.
So today it comes as enormous
and welcome news that Dr. Pachauri, from his New Delhi office, said
that 350 was the number.
"As chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) I
cannot take a position because we do not make recommendations," said
Rajendra Pachauri when asked if he supported calls to keep atmospheric carbon
dioxide concentrations below 350 parts per million (ppm).
"But as a human being I am fully supportive of that goal. What is
happening, and what is likely to happen, convinces me that the world must be
really ambitious and very determined at moving toward a 350
target," he told Agence France Presse in an interview.
It's your work that has made this breakthrough possible. In fact, Pachauri
specifically cited the last big piece of news for 350:
the decision of 80+ small island nations and less developed countries to
endorse the 350 target.
"I think this is a good development," said Pachauri. "Now people
-- including some scientists -- see the seriousness of the impacts of climate
change, and the fact that things are going to get substantially worse than what
we had anticipated."
This news makes it much easier for all of us to push hard leading up to the
International Day of Climate Action on the 24th of October (signup to start or
attend an event at www.350.org) , and the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen
this December.
It's clear now that science is powerfully on the side of the 350
target. Now we need the political world to follow suit. You will make that
happen in the next two months. Oct. 24 is officially 60 days away, and we're
building just the momentum we need to make it count.
Thanks for all you do,
Bill McKibben
As I have detailed in several articles in this series, this
could only be achieved by a massive outbreak of reality, sanity and honesty in
Copenhagen and that is only likely with massive pressure from citizens
worldwide. While organizations
like 350.org are doing a wonderful job of engaging citizens, I believe it will
take leadership at the Mayor level to really push change through.
If all this science is too much to cope with, as a first
step, a city could announce that it's joining 10:10 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/10-10
As I've also detailed in earlier articles, cities like
Gussing in Austria have already achieved a 90% cut in GHG emissions while
creating jobs, increasing revenues and increasing energy security. It is likely that nothing short of
almost every city in the world achieving this type of revolution by 2020 is
going to be enough.
How much longer before we see a worldwide pandemic of
sanity?
cgrant@visiblestrategies.com
Link to more information about Colin Grant and his company, Visible Strategies, offering the world's most visually-engaging performance management and communications software, SEE-IT.
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Pioneer Does History, Makes It -
Paul Downton's "Ecopolis: Architecture and Cities for a Changing Climate" has got it all
- by Richard Register
(Paul has been a speaker at Ecocity conferences 1, 2, 4, 5 and 7 and scheduled for 8 as well.)
"I knew I was really into it when filling out forms of various sorts, and on the 'profession' line I found myself writing 'urban ecologist.'" Paul Downton said this to me around 1994. And the rest is history.
The University of South Australia wasn't big enough for him. So he founded Urban Ecology Australia, with Cherie Hoyle his life-long partner in organizing and co-founder also of a family now comprising ten descendants, generation 2 and 3 taken together. At the time, 1991, and in graciously acknowledged inspiration from the First International Ecocity Conference held in Berkeley, 1990, he was a professor at the Uni exploring new territory. But he "got the bug," as one of my friends from Arizona, land of black widows, centipedes and scorpions (yes I know technically none of them are really bugs) said of his fascination with and involvement in Paolo Soleri's work at Arcosanti. Paul's bug was bigger than academic politics and his desire to educate was the world not the campus. And indeed that's exactly what he's doing with his new book "Ecopolis." Not only educating, but educating about what's most important.
If you want to delve into the history of where all these ecocity ideas come from, where they were developed in theory and experience, from the chalk on blackboard kind of working out the essential geometries to the sweaty digging in the dirt, pouring concrete, working with wood, and planting rooftop and solar greenhouse gardens, you can find no better or more compete source. Perfect for post docs in the field and field workers in the doc's office with blisters and bad sunburns. Perfect for all restless minds probing what's the meaning of building these here cities in the first place. It's a mind-bending book and THE tome to date, at 607 pages, for the ecocity movement. It's stuffed with illustrations, photos, charts and references enough to make one dizzy, with as many as seven scholarly references on some pages.
I first met Paul sitting in bed at a friend's sixth floor apartment in Oslo, Norway (which had recycling slots with chutes to the ground floor for glass, plastic, paper, metal and batteries). Arcosanti retainer Sven Bjork, who had first learned about Paolo Soleri in an article I had written for the Los Angeles Times in 1970 handed me a conference report on climate change held in 1988. It was 3:00 am and I was entertaining myself doing a little ecocity-style research. Therein was Paul's paper clearly showing the connection between disastrous car-city design and the looming climate change crisis, and furthermore talking about a whole systems approach to cities that could render them damn-well healthy. "Whoa! Who's this guy," I said to myself. I have to keep him in mind for whatever we come up with next (which unbeknownst to me at the time would be the First International Ecocity Conference).
Our space is limited in this humble newsletter of boundless ambition so a quick list as to highlights of the cast of characters in "Ecopolis" may whet your desire to crack the covers.
They range from the ever famous Garden City pioneers, Kuala Lumpur/London eco-architect Ken Yeang, city re-arranger and first in the field mayor, Jaime Lerner of Curitiba, Brazil and storied architect and would be city annihilator Frank Lloyd Wright to those of us lurking about the grass roots trying to build new foundations such and Paul and myself. Bucky Fuller is there with his sometimes random, sometimes universally organizing "pattern integrities," brilliance and engineer's single-mindedness (the fore-mentioned not always consistent), Ernest Callenbach of "Ecotopian" reorganization of politics, society and town design for that dig in the soil, watch the hawks circle, shoot your own meat, urban clanhood/neighborhood mix (you have to read it...)... And there are many others from Berkeley's out-front Integral Urban House's Sim Van der Ryn to Paul Hawken's theory of nice business people taking the lead. There is Kropotkin, Illich, Caine, Haggarty and Crump (not a law firm). Guadi and Hundertwasser, New Urbanists, and Bateson, Newman and Kenworthy, Chris Alexander and Frampton and Mollison. There is a lot you can cover in 607 pages determined to say it all and hopefully it will stick. We need to change the world and this is a rock-solid attempt at it. The theory is pretty well represented therein too, including a good deal offered by Paul himself based on his decades-long research and the designing of several built partial "urban fractals," notably Christy Walk a five story strawbale apartment structure (maybe the world's tallest) with work at home space, solar rooftop garden, pedestrian walkway, many recycled building materials, fabulous native plant gardens, lively design and bright colors, etc. right in downtown Adelaide, Australia.
Remembering meeting Paul reading his paper in that now-no-doubt-obscure Green House Gas Conference Report of 1988, 21 years later and counting, I ask again why it is the climate change scientists, activists, politicians and sympathetic journalist STILL haven't figured out the connection between city design and layout and the disasters they are working so hard to solve. These issues are big. They are connected. And they are about 90% solved right there in his book.
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Making Istanbul bicycle friendly
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From Today's Zaman
He wears bicycle neckties. His phone announces calls with "Bicycle, bicycle, I want to ride my bicycle," the opening words of Queen's 1978 song, "Bicycle Race."
Murat Suyabatmaz has been devoted to cycling since childhood. Despite his father's disapproval, Suyabatmaz found bicycle racing irresistible and trained in secret until, at the age of 14, he persuaded his father to allow him to compete in official events. Within months, Suyabatmaz finished ranked seventh in Turkey, and at age 18, he joined Turkey's men's team, eventually becoming captain and winning 32 national races. Following his athletic career, Suyabatmaz has been working for 16 years to make cycling safer through increased public awareness and interest. Now, at age 45, he is "captain" of the Istanbul Cyclists' Association (BD). According to Suyabatmaz, the BD's three goals are to: strengthen İstanbul's biking community; make cycling a regular part of society; and push the development of infrastructure for cycling.
The economic benefits of cycling
Suyabatmaz spends considerable time and energy selling the benefits of cycling to business people, industry leaders and politicians, and the BD exhibits frequently at industry expos. Last week, for example, BD members displayed road bikes, hybrid bikes (powered both by foot and electric motor) and even a "velo-taxi" at the Electric, Electronics and Mechanics Expo in Bakirkoy. It was the perfect place to advertise cycling as an energy-efficient form of transportation.
Arguing that bicycles will have a significant positive impact on Turkey's economy, Suyabatmaz notes that Turkey spends $3 billion each year on gasoline, all of it imported. "It's an unnecessary expense," he says. "It's better to spend this money on bicycles and secure bike-ways." He speaks of a friend who has cut his commute between Besiktas and the Grand Bazaar from 45 minutes in a car to 20 minutes on a bicycle. In addition to saving time, his friend is saving money as well. Assuming that an individual commuting by car spends YTL 1,000 each month in fuel, parking and maintenance costs, it's easy to justify both the cost of a bicycle, YTL 900, and an annual gym membership of YTL 1,000, for a shower after the morning commute.
Integrating cycling with mass transportation
Whatever the economic benefits of biking, Istanbul's streets are dangerous; many drivers are simply oblivious to cyclists, or they do not respect a biker's right to use the street. A central goal for the BD, therefore, is to work with the city to develop secure pathways for bicycles and to integrate cycling into the public transportation system. Suyabatmaz notes that bikes are already allowed on some ferries and on the Metro during off-peak hours. He also says that the city has recently agreed to equip the new Metrobuses with bicycle racks, with each rack holding two bikes. The next step is to install bike-racks on all city buses.
He also notes that bicycle parking is newly available at five locations: the Gunaydın Otopark in Bostanci, Ispark lots in Kabatas, Yenibosna and Merter, and Istanbul Ferry Lines (İDO) parking lots in Kartal and Kadikoy. As Istanbul prepares for 2010, the BD hopes to bring İstanbul into Eurovelo's 66,000-kilometer-long network of protected bike paths. "How?" asks Suyabatmaz, "How can Istanbul be a capital of European culture without bicycle paths?" He is working with 2010 planners to develop bike paths along the Golden Horn, the Theodosian Walls and the Marmara Sea, completely surrounding the historic district.
Enticing cyclists into the streets
Some would argue that the BD's goal to make biking a regular part of Turkish society is a utopian fantasy, but Suyabatmaz counters, "There's big potential in Turkey." He considers bicycles Turkey's "hidden gem" and its "untapped resource." According to his estimates, Turkey has six million cyclists and 10 million bicycles. Alas, most of these sit idle, their chains rusting and tires deflated. "Young people buy bicycles, but they can't use them," laments Suyabatmaz. If correct, Suyabatmaz's estimates suggest that people have already chosen to make cycling a regular part of their routine, but are trapped at home by the lack of safe places to cycle. This is where BD group rides come into play, getting bikers out onto Istanbul's streets, parks and forests where they can enjoy safety in numbers. Their presence may, over time, increase awareness and caution among drivers and spark public interest in cycling.
The BD organizes frequent group rides in and around İstanbul. Nilgulol Ertekin, 55, returned to cycling when she joined the BD in August. "I've discovered parts of Istanbul I didn't know existed," she says, referring to a ride from Kemerburgaz into the Belgrade Forest. Suyabatmaz says that the BD's group rides are open to everyone, and he invites expatriates to join and help promote cycling in İstanbul. Referring to the BD's 2009 program, he notes that the BD plans to mark Environment Week with a ride from Taksim across the Bosporus to Kadikoloy on the first Sunday in June. Ertekin, a former judo champion and trainer, says she looks forward to the time when cyclists "can use the Bosporus Bridge at any time."
Ertekin also participated in the BD's four-day memorial trek from Ataturk's home in Sisli to the Anitkabir in Ankara. Cross-country biking legend Fikret Kaplanoglu, 77, also joined the trek, adding another 500 kilometers to the 145,000 he has already logged during 34 years of biking across Turkey and parts of Europe. Former biking champion Talat Tuncalp, 94, spoke to cyclists at the start of the tour. Tunçalp represented Turkey at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin and again in London in 1948.
Who's cycling in Istanbul?
Turkish-language resources include www.bisikletliler.org and "Bisikletliler Dernegi" on www.facebook.com. internet forums offer information on group rides, equipment and maintenance, maintenance, etc., for İstanbul and other Turkish cities: www.bisikletforum.com and www.pedalsesi.org. For details about EuroVelo and the European Cyclists Federation's project to develop high-quality bicycle routes in all European countries, see www.ecf.com.
John Crofoot is a runner and freelance writer in Istanbul.
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Ecocity World Summit 2009
Istanbul Turkey, December 13-15
Organized by Ecocity Builders and Parantez International
Program - Speakers
Invitation and Organization
Lutfi Kirdar Convention Center
Photos of Istanbul
ATTEND
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Ecocity 2009 Featured Speakers
Ecocity Architecture and Urban Design
Ken Yeang- may be to skyscrapers what Buckminster Fuller was to houses. The Malaysian architect's visionary approach to green building bucks the mainstream, embracing the tall building as an urban fact, a problem to be solved afresh with each new design. He seeks what he calls ecomimesis in buildings, a way to copy and paste nature into our high-rise designs. But just as importantly, the building must look good too -- and definitely different.
Quote:
The trouble with buildings today is that they are not ecologically designed. 80% of all the environmental impacts of buildings are designed into the buildings before they have been built.
Honors and Awards:
18 exhibitions of Yeang's bioclimatic works, from Tokyo to Berlin to New York, London, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Rotterdam dating from l985 through 2008. Yeang and his ecodesigns have been featured in a number of special broadcasts, including BBC television and radio, NHK (Japan) and Asia Discovery Channel, and Public Broadcasting System's design=e2 in which he was specifically identified as one of three architects in the world who have the greatest influence on ecodesign. Yeang began garnering awards for his designs in l989, and since then he has been recognized for his extraordinary designs with over 35 awards, including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for his Menara Mesiniaga. In 2003 Yeang was awarded the Government of Malaysia's Danjah Mulia Pangkuan Negen (DMPN) that carries with the official title of Dato. This is the Malaysian equivalent of the UK's Order of the British Empire (OBE)
Walter Hood - has integrated architectural features into city sites whose pasts are vibrant but forgotten. By reflecting the shifting cultural composition and respecting the evolving nature of neighborhoods, he develops tailored solutions while retaining a cohesive artistic vision.
Quote:
You can make spaces that allow people to understand where they are just by letting things be versus trying to control everything. That's an aesthetic that I'm trying to become more comfortable with.
Honors and Awards:
Virginia Key Beach Museum Competition, Miami Fl. 1st Prize w/Huff and Gooden Architects 2005. Merit Award, ASLA, Northern Chapter. Oakland Waterfront 2005 Top Honor Award, Excellence on the Waterfront Waterfront Center Award, Oakland Waterfront October 2004. APWA 2004 Distinguished Project of the Year Award Splash Pad Park. National Award of Honor American Society of Landscape Architecture, 2003. Project:Baldwin Hills Master Plan 2001. Best of the Best, California Park and Recreation Society 2002. Project: Lafayette Square Park Merit Award, Place Design Award, EDRA/Places, Third Annual Award 1999. Project: Lafayette Square Park. Poplar Street Civic Design Competition, First Prize. Macon, Georgia. Jan. 1998. Rome Prize in Landscape Architecture, The American Academy in Rome, 1996-1997. "Urban Diaries" and "Jazz and Blues Landscape Improvisations" American Society of Landscape Architecture National Award of Merit: Research, 1994. Mount Vernon Riverfront Plan, Community Development Award State of Washington, 1988. Thomas Church Design Award for Excellence in Landscape Design Department of Landscape Architecture at Berkeley, 1987.
Mitchell Joachim - spent a decade working with architect Michael Sorkin, followed by a short spell with Frank Gehry. He now teaches at Columbia University and is a partner at Terreform 1, a nonprofit focused on ecological design. A kind of Frederick Law Olmsted for the 21st century, he spends most of his time thinking about how to reduce the ecological footprint of cities.
Quote:
It took 15 to 20 years to get a hybrid car. To change the basic paradigm for how we make buildings, 40 to 50 years. To change a city? That's 100 to 150 years.
Honors and Awards:
Moshe Safdie and Associates Research Fellowship and the Martin Family Society Fellow for Sustainability at MIT.History Channel and Infiniti Design Excellence Award for the City of the Future, New York and Time Magazine Best Invention of the Year 2007, Compacted Car with MIT Smart Cities Group. Selected by Wired magazine for "The 2008 Smart List: 15 People the Next President Should Listen To".
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 VIDEO
Five Things Cities Can Learn at Burning Man
Burning Man's Larry Harvey says the city the project creates in the desert every year has done some radical things other cities should try
Image: Glowfur Wedding at the Temple.
Copyright 2009, Ian Lauder photographer, Burning Man
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36 Hours in Istanbul
By SETH SHERWOOD for The New York Times
THE Turks have changed tactics. For centuries, the sultans of Istanbul sent forth their armies, seizing territories across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. This time, it's a style offensive. And the spoils of the conquests are everywhere. Downbeat neighborhoods have re-emerged as artist and night life enclaves. Medieval Ottoman motifs are winding up on T-shirts and design products. Plain kebabs are getting epicurean makeovers, and Old World hammams are being converted into jet-setters' spas. With architecture from the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods as a backdrop, Istanbul is now the rare place where readers of Archaeology and Wallpaper magazines can clink glasses with equal zeal.
5 p.m.
1) Super Market
Get disoriented at the six-century-old Grand Bazaar (Yaglikcilar Caddesi, Beyazit), which has about 60 lanes holding 4,000-odd shops packed to the rafters with tea sets, gaudy gold, backgammon boards and enough water pipes for a Cheech and Chong marathon. Bypass the trinket slingers and hit EthniCon (Kapalicarsi Takkeciler Sokak 58-60; 90-212-527-6841; www.ethnicon.com), a store where old Turkish rugs are cut into rectangles and reworked into arty modernist carpet collages. Next, do like Jean-Paul Gaultier, Donna Karan and Sting, and head to Sivasli Yazmaci (Yaglikcilar 57; 90-212-526-7748) for gorgeous textiles - new and vintage - in silk, wool and cotton.
Grand Bazaar
7 p.m.
2) Goodbye, Europe
Take a 15-minute ferry through time - and across continents - from Eminonu terminal in Europe (Iskele 2, Eminonu; 90-212-455-6900; www.ido.com.tr; 1.30 new lira) to the Kadikoy district in Asia. Crossing the Bosphorus at dusk, you'll have knockout views of the illuminated minarets of the medieval Suleymaniye Mosque, the fairy-tale Galata Tower, the vast dome of the Hagia Sophia and the majestic walls of the Topkapi and Dolmabahce Palaces. Don't be surprised if you feel a little less Occidental upon arrival.
View of Suleymaniye Mosque from the ferry
8 p.m.
3) Anatolian Comfort Food
For those who don't have a Turkish grandfather to cook traditional dishes, there's Musa Dagdeviren, the Turkish-Kurdish proprietor of Ciya Sofrasi (Guneslibahce Sokak 43, Kadikoy; 90-216-330-3190; www.ciya.com.tr). A culinary Indiana Jones, he gathers gustatory secrets from remote provinces and serves a menu that may include ezo gelin (lentil soup with oregano and red pepper), diyarbakir guvec (a savory stew of lamb, tomatoes and soft eggplants) and kuru sebze domalsi (eggplant stuffed with rice and lamb). He is also a Midas of fruits, transforming them into golden juices (tamarind, anyone?) and desserts like candied pumpkin slices. The menu is in Turkish, so take a Turkish friend or make one at the restaurant. A three-course meal runs a mere 30 lira, about $22 at 1.37 lira to the dollar.
Ciya Sofrasi
10 p.m.
4) Go-Go Beyoglu
The Beyoglu district has been transformed in recent years from a desultory dump into a buzzing night life district where you can scarcely hurl an olive without hitting someone making the scene in old-school Nikes. For a nightcap with the older intellectual set, head to the House Café (Asmali Mescit 9/1, 90-212-245-9515; www9.thehousecafe9.com.tr), order a bottle of Turkish Sarafin cabernet (75 lira) and make clever remarks about post-structuralism. To gyrate with young Turks, visit Wanna (Mesrutiyet Caddesi 151, 90-212-243-1794; www9.istanbuldoors9.com), where foreign D.J.'s keep young professionals in Mavi jeans dancing alongside the aluminum bar until the wee hours.
Saturday
10 a.m.
5) Lifestyles of the Rich
Why leave the house when you're an Ottoman sultan living in Topkapi Palace - Turkey's answer to Versailles?. The 10 a.m. harem tour (Sultanahmet; 90-212-512-0480; www.topkapisarayi.gov.tr; 10 lira) unveils the sultans' wild world of multiple wives, eunuchs and dwarf entertainers. Walk through opulent vaulted chambers decorated in blue Iznik tiles and stained glass, then check out the religious relics, which include facial hair and a letter said to be from the Prophet Muhammad. Top it off with a look at the royal treasury, filled with bejeweled spoils from Ottoman conquests, and a skull fragment purportedly from history's most famous headless hero, John the Baptist.
Noon
6) Rocks of Ages
Thousands of tiny, tightly packed shards. It doesn't sound like much, until you witness the exquisitely wrought mosaics glowing from the old walls and domed ceilings of the medieval Church of St. Savior in Chora (Kariye Camii Sokak 26, Edirnekapi, 90-212-631-9241; 10 lira entry). Take binoculars or a zoom lens to fully appreciate the detailed facial expression on Christ the Savior; the poignant allegory of a sick woman crawling to Jesus; and the rich reds, deep blues and dazzling Klimt-like golds that render the Biblical scenes. The church (sometimes called Kariye Mosque) also houses amazingly preserved frescoes. Don't miss the action-packed "Harrowing of Hell," in which Jesus breaks through Hell's gates, tramples Satan underfoot and yanks Adam and Eve from their coffins.
2:30 p.m.
7)Burnished Kebabs
Imagine if New York's top chefs began fetishizing the hot dog, dressing it with truffles and foie gras. That's akin to what's happening in Istanbul, where the once plebian lamb kebab has been resurrected by high-end restaurants. Join Turkish socialites and yuppies in the angular modern confines of Komsu (Vali Konagi Caddesi Isik Apt 8B, Nisantasi; 90-212-224-9666; www.komsu-kebap.com) for sogan kebabs (ground lamb topped with pomegranate sauce), acili kebabs (ground lamb with hot spices) and the succulent komsu kebab (ground lamb with pastrami and cheddar cheese). Non-kebab offerings include lamb ribs and diced cubes of, yes, lamb. Dinner for two runs about 60 lira.
4 p.m.
8) Ottomania
You won't find the Nisantisi district on postcards or in most travel guides. But its tony streets and Art Nouveau town houses are at the front lines of a style invasion, hijacking traditional Ottoman designs for contemporary-cool textiles and housewares. The shop of the fashion designer Gonul Paksoy (Atiye Sokak 6A, Tesvikiye; 90-212-261-9081) sells handmade velvet slippers, silk overcoats, embroidered purses and tribal-style jewelry. To outfit your personal palace, hit the local shop of Pasabahce (Tesvikiye Caddesi 117; 90-212-233-5005; www9.pasabahce9.com.tr) for smooth vases covered in Islamic geometric patterns, jewelry boxes adorned with Byzantine mosaics and ceramic coasters with faded kilim designs. And for the home hammam, snap up the olive-leaf body lotion and rose soaps at Roen (Sakayik Sokak 13/27; 90-212-241-4114; www.roen.com.tr).
8 p.m.
9) Top-Flight Dining
Dining at Mikla (Mesrutiyet Caddesi 167/185; 90-212-251-4646 ; www.istanbulyi.com) is like boarding an airplane. First, you must go through a metal detector in the lobby of the Marmara Pera Hotel. Then, you ascend to the top floor, where the panoramic views make you feel as though you're soaring above clouds. And the atmosphere is strictly first class: modern Scandinavian décor, a D.J. booth and a stylish crowd. The menu, however, is nothing like air travel: figs with prosciutto and Gorgonzola; lamb entrecôte with apricot confit; star anise and fennel-pear terrine with basil ice cream. A three- course meal for two runs about 140 lira.
11 p.m.
10) Bet on Blackk
The award for Istanbul's most monochromatic nightclub - black leather banquettes, black tables, black floors, black curtains, black-clad servers - goes to Blackk (Muallim Naci Caddesi 71, Ortakoy; 212-90-236-7256; www.blackk.net). Far from funereal, this two-year-old nightclub along the Bosphorus teems with the likes of the fashion designer Gianfranco Ferré; the president of Lukoil, Vagit Y. Alekperov; the former Washington restaurateur (and buddy of the Clintons) Sahir Erozan and other international moguls. No cover, but reservations are essential on weekends.
Sunday
10 a.m.
11) Bath and Beyond
You're bloated on kebabs. You've consumed raki and Red Bull. You're completely shopped out. Rejuvenation awaits you at Les Ottomans (Muallim Naci Caddesi 168, Kurucesme; 90-212-359-1500), a new palace hotel where the opulent hammam offers a modern spin on the traditional Turkish bath. Under a twinkling dome of artificial stars, an attendant will position you on a heated marble slab, douse you in hot water, rub your entire body with a rough glove, mummify you in foamy soap, massage your back, stretch your limbs, shampoo your hair, douse you again, briskly towel you off and then send you into the relaxation lounge for a glass of mint tea. A 30-minute session comes to 140 lira.
Noon
12) An Artful Exit
It's fitting that the city's most exciting cultural venue, the new Istanbul Modern museum (Meclis-i Mebusan Caddesi, Karakoy; 90-212-334-7300; www.istanbulmodern.org), sits next to a 16th-century mosque. Juxtaposed, they capture the twin poles of Istanbul: venerable and youthful, holy and avant-garde. The duality is echoed in several of the museum's contemporary artworks. Especially captivating are the desolate landscapes by Turan Erol, the circuitrylike abstractions of Ihsan Cemal Karaburcak and the grotesque characters of Mehmet Guleryuz. If you have time for coffee, the museum's sleek and airy restaurant has lovely waterside views - a final souvenir for your stay. Admission is 7 lira.
The Basics
Getting around is a breeze, thanks to cheap and abundant taxis. A trip between the old quarter of Sultanahmet and night life districts costs no more than 15 lira, or about $11 at 1.37 lira to the dollar.
Partygoers should shimmy to the new Lush Hip Hotel in the Beyoglu night-life district (Siraselviler 50, Taksim, 90-212-243-9595; www.lushhiphotel.com). It is an early-20th-century town house with 22 large rooms, individually decorated in old-world Ottoman to colorful Pop Art styles. Doubles from 240 euros, or $334 at $1.39 to the euro.
Also in Beyoglu, the new Misafir Suites (Gazeteci Erol Dernek Sokak 1; 90-212-249-8930; www.misafirsuites.com) offers high style at relatively low prices. Misafir's six spacious rooms have modern Scandinavian furniture, colorful Turkish fabrics and ample gadgetry (flat-screen TVs, DVD players and wireless Internet access). Doubles and triples are 150 euros, which includes an in-room breakfast of Turkish pastries, toast, juice, coffee, tomatoes, cheese and cucumbers.
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Car Free Journey
by Steve Atlas
As the glorious fall emerges, this can be a great time for a
vacation without the crowds.
If you don't have a car, consider a bus. Buses are
surprisingly affordable, and can get you to many vacation destinations. For
example, Greyhound's Discover Pass can be used for 7 days ($199), 15 days ($299), 30 days ($399), or 60 days ($499) of unlimited bus travel throughout
the United States, Canada, and selected cities in Mexico. These passes can be
purchased by credit card at most local Greyhound terminals.
Unfortunately, Greyhound no longer issues printed bus
schedules. Even Greyhound's web site (www.greyhound.com)
requires a specific day of departure and return + specific information about
where you are going.
Fortunately, printed schedules and additional information
are available in Russell's Official National Motor Coach Guide. The Guide
includes printed schedules for most intercity bus lines in the United States and
Canada, and connecting service to other bus carriers. And if your destination
isn't served by Greyhound, it may be served by a regional or lesser know bus
company. For example, Greyhound does Not serve Manitowoc, Wisconsin. But the
Russell's index shows that Manitowoc is served by both Jefferson Lines and
Indian Trails from Milwaukee (one daily bus from each bus company). Adirondack
and Pine Hill Trailways offer frequent service to several vacation locations in
New York's Adirondack and Catskill Mountains.
Porter Stage Lines provides service between the Oregon
communities of Coos Bay, Eugene, Bend, and Ontario. Take a few minutes to browse through Russell's for vacation
destinations that can be reached by bus.
In addition to the monthly guide, Russell's provides two
special supplements with the December issue of each year at no extra charge. (However.
The supplements can be ordered anytime. Part 2 is $8.61. and Part 3 is $9.07.)
Part 2 includes a directory of bus lines, list of suburbs in metropolitan areas,
bus stations, and military installations, training centers, and hospitals. Part
3 is exceptionally helpful for its state by state maps showing what specific
communities are served by one or more intercity bus lines.
Monthly issues (including postage) are $21.34 apiece; an
annual subscription (including postage) is $151.74.
An Official Canadian Bus Guide (published 6 times every
year) is $10.65 (including postage) for each issue, or $41.88 (including
postage) for an annual subscription.
For more information or to order copies, e-mail cbonar@russellsprinting.com,
visit www.russellsguides.com, or
call (319)364-6138.
If your chosen vacation community doesn't seem to be served
by bus or rail, don't give up. There may be an alternative that you didn't
know. For example, Bar Harbor, Maine is no longer served by either Greyhound or
Vermont Transit. However, a local company: Bar Harbor Shuttle (www.barharborshuttle.com, or call
(207) 479-5911) provides frequent service from Bar Harbor to Bangor International Airport,
Greyhound and Concord Coach Bus Terminals, the Airport Mall, the Hollywood
Slots casino.
And finally, if you are planning to visit family or friends,
Greyhound's Bolt Bus (www.boltbus.com)
offers frequent inexpensive service between New York City and Boston,
Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.
In today's economy, it's essential to not only save energy,
but also to spend less. Bus travel is one way to accomplish both these goals.
In a future column, I will be discussing some
bicycle-friendly vacation communities.
Please send me your recommended
communities, why it is a good vacation choice, your contact information, and
what is important to you in choosing a bicycle-friendly vacation destination.
E-mail me at steveatlas45@yahoo.com.
Steve Atlas's web site is http://carfreeamerica.org.
Visit that site for lots of tips and information about reducing car dependency.
Steve's first e-book, "Car Free at the Beach," can be found at
http://carfreeamerica.com |
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Principal Features of an Ecocity
http://www.ecocityprojects.net/
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Click here for more information and to register for classes
in the Sustainable Design Program at UC Berkeley Extension.
Go Green with Berkeley!
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