Peter Berkeley, our Brisbane correspondent, sends along a link to Robert Krulwich’s blog, showing what happens when you take the block pattern of a city like Istanbul:
And stack it sideways:
.
Compared with, say, the grid block-pattern of New York:
Piled up neatly:
.
Says Krulwich about Armelle Caron‘s work:
It’s not that I’m disappointed in New York, not at all. I love walking Manhattan’s grid system, but now that I’ve seen Armelle Caron’s bottom-up version of Istanbul, all those crooked, lopsided, curvaceous streets, going off in so many directions, I can’t help wondering, what would it be like to wander there? Would I be constantly lost? Would every turn be an adventure?
Full post here with other cities.
In answer to Krulwich: wandering Istanbul *is* amazing – not just the city and places within it, but the people and energy of the place. The grid looks messy, but in person, it is quite navigable; the bending blocks aren’t the challenge – the tiny ones are.
If there were a city on earth that I would want to spend a full year wandering in, I think it would be Istanbul. Draped over hills, defined by water, with layers upon layer of history, culture and contrasts. Eastern but not quite, western, but not quite. Starbucks almost around the corner from Karaköy Güllüoğlu, the famous baclava house, and local apple tea everywhere. A modern tram passing the awe-inspiring 1500 year old Hagia Sofia. The old Roman grid in Sultanamhet, the throngs upon throngs of people on the pedestrian Istiklal street and stunning diversity of shops found just off it. The omnipresent connectivity of Istanbul to the water that is simply inexplicable in its strength. Moments at Ortakoy with the ornate and historic mosque contrasting with the clean lines of Bosporus bridge looming just beyond it and an everpresent fleet of massive freighters gliding past.
Istanbul is well worth a wander – I’d start at a week minimum.