Protests in Taksim Square: Defining Civic Space Through Public Intervention (original) (raw)

In this paper, we outline some general definitions concerning space as a physical and a political ground, e.g. "Civic Space" and "Democratic Space". We then refer our research to two theoretical definitions of the word "Space". The first is by the French Sociologist and Philosopher "Henri Lefebvre" who justifies space as a social product. The second definition is by the British Geographer and Author "David Harvey" who came up with the concept of how space is not just a rigid form, but rather can be either relational, relative or absolute. We have taken the 2013 protests in Taksim Square, Turkey to be our case study, and looked closer at the events or incidents that occurred within this square. Through analyzing the spatial conflicts, i.e. the sit-ins, barricades, marches and police-citizens clash, our aim was to look at Taksim Square from a different perspective by synthesizing its different events with our literature and theoretical reviews, as well as Historical approaches. These include: Fragmentation of space in Taksim Square after the 1977 protests, Semi-privatization by the government, Commercialized Globalism vs. Global Social Movement, and the role of Social Media as a globalizing agent