On arriving at the cafe in Sulukule with Ahmet (our colleague in ITU) at around 12:30, we just came across a band of well-dressed local musicians who were about to play music on TV Station.
Another activity taking place then was that men were expected to go to the mosque to pray at 13:00 every Friday, when everything takes time out. But it is not necessary for women to go.
At the cafe, with the help of the man with a broken arm, we defined the boundaries of Sulukule, which is much more focusing than that of the municipality project. Later, our walk and observation around this area proved that it is so different inside and outside Sulukule boundaries in terms of built morphology, street pattern and sense of community, etc: the streets are the core of their communal life full of interaction of the neighbourhood, which on the other hand does not exist outside the boundaries.
At 13:00 when the pray was beginning, we set out from the cafe walking round and observing this area. Several layers including built area, open spaces, circultation and activities taking place on the stages, etc, were allocated to us five respectively. Some of the buildings have been sold to the municipality; some looked fairly derelict and dangerous; and others, both houses and low-rise flats, were occupied by local Roma residents who conveys a strong sense of community as well as anti-demolition. Open spaces are for their communal life such as playing football. The big open space with some Romani squatters on the edge outside of Sulukule boundaries, which is always empty but used as their market, is now partly parked by the trucks of the municipality. Basic infrastructures are provided in Sulukule, and schools and hospitals are located near the area. The pedestrian communicative environment is never destroyed by cars. Everything here looks natural.
Our lunch was very delicious, which is a traditional Turkish food called Kofti, at the cafe. After that, we continued to complete mapping other parts of Sulukule and then turned to the wall. The man with a broken arm was really kind, who chatted with us like old friends very freely. We got to know more uniqueness about Sulukule and picked up more Turkish words from him. At the highway side of the wall, we found there was no interaction on the other side of the wall, although on Sulukule side there were lots. A man was keeping horses on the wall; a woman was picking grasses; and boys were flying kites...But the horses we saw were really thin...sigh...
Back to the hotel, we gave each other feedback of our group works. Firstly, the panel discussion told us, "for some people music is part of life; but for Roma people music is life". Though the experience in Balat showed a negative perspective, there are great potential to be imprived and to be taken advantage of in Sulukule. And our group also shared our mapping field work with others.
After almost one-week struggle, a master framework with detailed infillings are on the way, as well as a series of unsolved problems, methodologies, priorites, and particular tasks...
Just before the coming of the work, tomorrow will be off for rest and fun. Expecting...
- mi
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