Introduction

Abstract

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is viewed as a contribution to contemporary studies that expand the confines of modernist production beyond what were viewed as its hubs, namely Western Europe and North America, by focusing on Turkey. Following the global trajectory of modernism, it shows how architectural culture responded to ubiquitous post-war ideas and ideals, and how it became intertwined with the politics of modernization and urbanization, and with economics. The book provides a close reading of the era in the Turkish context; it attempts to re-think and re-read post-war architectural culture and its global effects beyond simplistic, canonical, and ontological explanations, while demonstrating the fluidity of architectural practices globally. The post-World War II period was a time of major political transformations around the world, with the emergence of United States and the Soviet Union as superpowers espousing a bipolar world order of capitalism and communism.