Between 1840 and 1880; the Eastern Mediterranean port of Izmir (Smyrna) underwent unprecedented change. A modern harbor that welcomed international steamships and new railway lines that transported a cornucopia of products transformed the physical city. Migrants; seasonal workers; and transient sailors thronged into an already diverse metropolis; helping to double the population to 200;000. Simultaneously; Ottoman officials and enterprising citizens vied to control and reform the city’s administrative and legal institutions. Ottoman Izmir examines how urban space; institutional structures; and everyday practices shaped one another in the thriving seaport of Izmir during a volatile period of growth. Sibel Zandi-Sayek investigates a variety of urban actors—Muslims and non-Muslims; Ottomans and Europeans; newcomers and native residents; merchants; investors; civil servants; and press reporters—who were actively engaged in restructuring the city. Concentrating on the workings of urban committees and on laws and policies that were written; rewritten; but never fully implemented; Zandi-Sayek exposes how modern interventions sought to impose clear-cut concepts of public and private; safety and danger; and hygiene on a city that previously had a wide range of customary regulations. Ottoman Izmir shows how Izmir’s various stakeholders contested its built environment. In so doing; it offers a new view of the dynamics of urban modernization.
#4448789 in eBooks 2012-05-04 2012-05-04File Name: B007B992M0
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