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Abdullah Aydogan, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Political Science and the Baker Institute for Public Policy (Center for the Middle East) at Rice University. His research primarily focuses on party politics, civil-military relations, and quantitative text analysis. Although his work is global in scope, Aydogan specializes in the developing world, particularly the Middle East. Aydogan’s dissertation was on the “Institutional Determinants of Military Coups: Constitutional Design and Military Centrality.” His recent study on Turkish political parties was published in the academic journal Party Politics. Aydogan received a Ph.D. and M.A. in political science from the University of Houston, and a B.S. in mathematics from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey.
Mega Projects and the Limits of Urban Planning in Megacities: The Case of Istanbul in the AKP Era
This essay examines the politics of the Istanbul Master Plan, which was created by the Istanbul Metropolitan Planning and Urban Design Center (IMP), focusing on the role of non-governmental organizations. The essay addresses three main questions. First, to what have NGOs been involved in the formulation, implementation, and oversight of the Istanbul Master Plan? Second, what form has their activism taken and what has been the response of the AKP government? And third, what are the prospects for achieving the balance between conservation and development originally envisioned by the Istanbul Master Plan?
