Coming from Anatolia which has served as home to numerous civilizations, and being a citizen of Türkiye; often said to be a Eurasian country but one which has been waiting to join the EU since the 1980s, provides one with a certain flexibility in observing the causes of conflicts given its great diversity. Something which I readily understand. Türkiye, as described in many guidebooks is "like a bridge between two continents", indeed constitutes a cultural corridor between Europe and Asia.
As someone who grew up in this highly diversified land in terms of its geographical, cultural, societal and economic background, I have always found it interesting to trace back the spatial histories of different countries both to understand their physical transformation and also how all these differences have been reflected in different planning cultures.
Before moving to Sweden to study, I lived in Ankara where I spent my childhood and built up my cross-disciplinary educational background both in natural sciences and EU politics.
This picture shows a symbol of my hometown which marks its early visitors; Hittites who lived there back in 2000 BC. Ankara also hosted Hattians, Phrygians, Lydians, Galatians, Seljuk Turks, the Achaemenid Empire, the Ancient Kingdom of Macedonia, Romans and of course the Ottomans. Travelling through this city however does not give you a complete picture of this cultural mosaic as compared to Istanbul which is truly an open air museum that benefits weary feet with the occasional sight of some startling ancient scenery.
Having been at the heart of the Turkish Republic and its politics since 1923, Ankara has a rather administrative structure and is better planned as compared to Istanbul. On the other hand Istanbul, despite being chaotic in its "planning" style, is found to be more attractive as a place to live and to run businesses than Ankara which is quite organised but thought of as quite a dull city "smelling government and bureaucracy in every inch of it."
Trying to realise how the notion of culture should be incorporated into urban planning in a way that would make that city more liveable for everyone irrespective of their cultural, social and economic backgrounds, I eventually picked European spatial planning as a professional discipline and had the possibility to widen my horizons in terms of exploring and understanding different planning systems in Nordic and Baltic Europe.
Having the privilege of knowing and experiencing Eastern, Western, Baltic and Nordic cultures and their respective spatial perspectives strengthened by a European Spatial Planning Masters and following work experiences in multi-cultural settings, has equipped me with an overview that none of these above-mentioned cultures could single-handedly provide. I believe this synergy, which is unlikely to be gained from any textbook, provides my own spatial heritage and is something that I cherish greatly.