I have heard the Istanbul-Mother metaphor, if you imagine the Black Sea as an uterus giving birth to Istanbul through the waters of the Bosporus with the areas of Ottoman pleasure at the entrance to that sensual Bosporus channel.

Thanks for that image, Geordiedave. Gonna go rip my eyes out now.

hmm, that reminds me of: a friend of mine (male, architect) says that good architecture is always female. because architecture is good, if people feel protected in it like a baby in an uterus.

So that architecture in the past was plainly bold and phallic and now is more sensually curved and enclosing.

Haven't been anywhere near any of these projects myself but I'm looking at the Istinye Park website. First thing I clicked on brought up this lovely bit of text, over the image of a lady at her apartment window:

'There is a merry preparation at Ayse's house. Her friends are just about to come. A gorgeous smell comes from inside. It is definitely Ayse's famous chocolate chip cookie. She is so cheerful and excited that she cannot help but keep staring through the window'

Then when you put your cursor over the walking people, speech bubbles come up. There's a girl coming out of Ayse's house nd she says 'the house is glamorous but the furnitures are all crap'. and a guy coming out says 'were these the famous cookies? ugh.'

Some more I just discovered in another section by the swimming pool:

Man sitting on lounge - 'I'll have all the girls in the palm of my hand if I can pull off a butterfly' (see where your mind goes when you read this one)
Lady in pool, looking at above guy - 'He seems to be checking me out. Does he not notice that I am aware?'

Man talking to woman - 'You don't seem to be satisfied whatever we do Mrs'
Woman talking to man - 'I want it right here, right in this corner!' (again, what's she talking about??)

Great stuff

Hmmm...yes more shiny buildings when everywhere else basically looks like crap.
Just go 2km from Taksim and see how people live in slums in an already ugly polluted city.

2km's from Taksim?? Try 500 meters. There are slums and gecekondu's absolutely everywhere in Istanbul, my favorite "divide" is Nisantasi and one of the downward headed ravines whch is a total slum. The richest and poorest (relatively) within 200 meters of eachother and both acting as if the other doesn;t exist.

which is called teneke mahallesi

Are there any beautiful second/third world megacities?

Another project in all its ugliness in Fulya.

Were you in the Polat tower by any chance?

sorry, I dont visit whore houses.