The potential of digital urban activism
The metaphor of boiling water and frogs often comes to mind when describing neoliberal capitalism's assault on our lives. This slowly increasing heat in cities manifests itself more and more as the rapid normalization of losses, ugliness and deficiencies. For example, if we look closely at the last ten years, where might city residents have lost the most in public spaces? Which would be a broader topic: giant concrete squares that are not people-oriented, or parks with rolled grass landscaping by simply cutting down trees? Usurped earthquake gathering areas or pavements used as parking substitutes, with poor materials chosen for frequent renewal, and which have to be shared with scooters/motorbikes? Or are coastal areas privatized, rented or occupied?
When we ask Yaşar Adanalı, who specializes in urbanism and focuses on activism as well as information and data production, he prefers "all of them". But he is in favor of defining "frog" well because he also describes the same decade as a period in which urban environmental objections and social sensitivity rose in the face of threats to public spaces and green areas, and local and central governments that could not remain indifferent to this wave were forced into different urban green space policies.
If there is a "Pandora's Box" here, it is Gezi, which should probably be mentioned together with the movements that gave rise to it. Adanalı, favors reading the handover that started with the 2019 local elections with the impact of this wave.
One of the reasons for posing this question to Adanalı is to talk about his individual "digital urban activism". He describes himself as someone who combines his expertise in the field of urbanism, his curiosity about urban spaces, and his responsibility as an "urban citizen" with the possibilities and tools of changing information and communication technologies in the hope of making an impact. In 2010, almost simultaneously with his PhD in International Urbanism, he started his first urban blog, Mutlu Kent (Happy City). This was followed by Reclaim Istanbul, where he wrote in English. The influential medium of that period was the blog, and thanks to the articles he published there, issues were brought to the print and visual media. "I can say that some of the discussions I started around the urban crimes of the most popular contractors or star architects of the period were read directly by these people, and these people tried to contact me," he says. Adanalı, one of the founding team of the Center for Spatial Justice, and Postane Istanbul, wants to publish this blog experience as a book.
The so-called tourist who went viral
Although digital city activism, which is the tool of this time, may seem like an individual effort, it is often fed by the voices of other social demands and struggles of which it is either a direct part or in solidarity, and sometimes it feeds those voices. What does digital city activism mean? For example, let him describe one himself:
"Last year, I shared a video of a visitor writing his name on the stones of the Galata Tower on the TikTok platform in English, saying 'Don't damage cultural heritage buildings in the cities you visit, don't be a jerk like this person'. The video quickly went viral. Later, when a follower commented in the comments, 'I saw this video in the main news bulletins', I learned that it was indeed on the news of all national channels. They were reporting my content by saying, 'A tourist visiting Istanbul shared a video about the vandalism at the Galata Tower'. Leaving aside the fact that I am not a tourist, thanks to this news, the video I shot reached completely different places. The very next day, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism set up a security tape around the Tower, started cleaning the graffiti and covered the sign with protective glass. Afterwards, the Galata Tower underwent a comprehensive restoration."
Another example took place a while ago in Istanbul when the coastline was closed to the public to allow a private tour boat to anchor at the Karaköy Pier. The video messages he and others shared on social media quickly went viral. The metropolitan and district municipalities could not remain indifferent and within a few days the "fences" were removed by the Beyoğlu Municipality.
In the end, we are talking about an action that only requires a cell phone and has the potential to grow, even if the circle of influence is uncertain at first. In addition to Twitter and Instagram, Adanalı also does this on TikTok by producing appropriate content, reporting some urban crimes such as hotels disregarding the right to the coast and sidewalk occupations. He is in favor of ensuring that the posts that spread rapidly and get results do not lead to an illusion. "We should not forget that we are in a 'pretend-public' space that is open to control, disinformation and manipulation. Therefore, we need to know the rules of the game and make sure that we don't reproduce its dirty aspects," he says.
Ways to keep the space
He also has suggestions for effective digital urban activism. He thinks that the presence of a narrator in shared videos and the clear presentation of the issue by this narrator is more important than technical competence:
"The tricks of producing video content are a thematic focus that the algorithm can encode our content, and a persistence and frequency that will make it easier to be noticed and massified at some point. It is important to continue producing videos around the agendas we insistently focus on without saying that they are watched less or watched more. In a medium like TikTok, even an activist with few followers can at some point put their content into a viral circulation. A content that goes viral on TikTok can be re-shared on X and set the agenda. We are faced with algorithms that we do not know exactly how they work, and probably even those who develop them do not fully comprehend them. In order to be familiar with the algorithm, it is necessary to follow current trends, memes, music, etc. In other words, it is not possible to be a good producer without being a good consumer of video content. It is important for urban digital activism to be well connected to physical spaces and local communities in order to make an informative contribution to the issues on the agenda as well as for intellectual follow-up. Of course, all these suggestions should be evaluated within an ethical framework, without falling into the current vortex of social media, and in a way to nourish the rational public sphere."
It is important that to have a narrator in the posts, in other words, that they highlight one's own problems in the city, but Adanalı draws attention to another aspect of this, and advises us not to forget the potential risks of existing with an open identity on social media and "our own well-being".
Social media is a big cauldron, and a cauldron full of useless, deliberately manipulative messages. Although it is necessary to be visible and stand out, prioritizing its requirements can also cripple such digital activism. In this sense, Yaşar Adanalı's suggestion is that rather than relying on the power of a collective account that brings everyone's experience together, more residents/activists should produce video content for this purpose and the resulting pressure should lead institutions and initiatives working in the field to change their communication strategies. Programs that have a community-building perspective and work like an "impact academy" will thus feed digital activism.
The vigil that lasted for years in Haydarpaşa, Istanbul, and the Gazhane Volunteers, who ensured the existence of the Museum Gazhane today, are just two of the urban resistances that aim to "keep the space", which is the fundamental issue. Since taking them back requires a much more difficult struggle, "keeping" public spaces is a critical step in protecting them from being privatized, fenced, or opened to permanent development. According to Adanali, urban digital activism offers opportunities for initiatives that care about this. Personal social media activism is another way to hold onto space and claim it back when necessary. "I think it is part of activism to take up space on platforms that fence off areas that should belong to us users in the digital world, and to work to ensure that this space also contains information that can contribute to the formation of a public opinion open to rational debate," says Yaşar Adanalı.
