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Films 2015 - Turkey - Ekümenopolis: Ucu olmayan sehir (Ecumenopolis: City Without Limits)
Ekümenopolis: Ucu olmayan sehir (Ecumenopolis: City Without Limits)
Director: Imre Azem, 2011
Language: Turkish, English
88 minutes – Turkey / Germany
A Turkish-German co-production, this documentary takes its name from an imaginary concept devised in 1967 by the Greek urban planner Constantinos Doxiadis. The concept suggests that the metropolitan cities of the modern world will expand to such sizes that they will merge into one huge city in the future.
Best categorized as urban horror, this film shows how Istanbul has become a city without limits: it continues to expand uncontrollably, with speculation playing a large role. The 3rd Bosphorus bridge will be built, attracting more migration, urbanization, and traffic to the one-third of the city that’s currently relatively peaceful and unpopulated. It shows how the metropolitan administration equates “development” with the number of shopping malls, residences with fake ponds and so-called ecological gardens, and endless construction. It shows how wrongful urbanization policies disrupt the historical fabric of the city, the old neighborhoods, and forests and water basins. The film also shows clearly that the government simply does not care about the issues.
IMDB says: The story of Istanbul and other Mega-Cities on a neo-liberal course to destruction. It follows the story of a migrant family in their on-going struggle for housing rights.
www.timeoutistanbul.com/en/istanbulbeatblog/936/ecumenopolis-city-without-limits/