This article discusses the politics of public space through the particular example of Taksim
Square in Istanbul. Tracing Taksim’s history since the early twentieth century, the article analyzes
the instrumentalization of public space in nation-building, the socialization of politics within the
context of postwar rapid urbanization, and the (re)politicization of public space under neoliberal
Islamism. Finally it arrives at an assessment of the nation-wide antigovernment protests that
centered on Taksim Square in May–June 2013. Throughout this historical examination, the
politics of public space is discussed with reference to the work of Henri Lefebvre, in order to
scrutinize the spatial aspects of the relation between state and society. Accordingly, the rise of
democratic public space is defined as a result of the mutual interaction between two bottom-up
impetuses; the immanent politics of the social (the political character of everyday life) and the
socialization of the political (civil political action).
