Adeela Naureen and Waqar K Kauravi
Having lived in Istanbul for six months and having seen its historical and aesthetic side, we thought of peeping into how this huge metropolis runs like clockwork, who manages it, and why its system could be an area of research for improving urban living in Pakistan.
Istanbul presents a fascinating and complex model of a large metropolitan city, especially regarding its efforts to manage tourism, transportation, and urban services. Its success is a mix of strong public-sector orchestration, mega-projects, and innovative use of technology, though not without significant challenges. Whether the engineering-minded leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan played a major role in reshaping the Istanbul of the 1990s into the thriving and efficient metropolis of today will be covered in the last part of the paper.
The public sector, primarily led by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, or İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi (İBB), along with other federal bodies, helps run Istanbul as a tourist attraction, with a focus on transportation, security, and cleaning.
As regards transportation, the public sector has transformed Istanbul’s notorious traffic and transport system into a multi-layered, integrated network. The national and municipal governments have funded and built mega-projects to decongest the city and connect tourist hubs. For example, Marmaray, a rail tunnel under the Bosphorus connecting the European and Asian sides, is a state-run project critical for moving millions, including tourists. The İBB relentlessly expands the metro network, with lines now reaching key tourist areas such as the historic peninsula (Taksim, Yenikapı, and connections to Sultanahmet). The integrated municipal smart card is the backbone of public transport, allowing seamless and affordable travel across buses, metro, trams, and ferries. This is a key public-sector service for tourists.
There is high visibility of police and private security guards at major transit hubs such as Taksim Square, Sultanahmet tram stops, and ferry terminals. Dedicated tourist police, or the Istanbul Emniyet Müdürlüğü, act as a special branch of the national police operating in tourist zones, recognisable by their red and blue uniforms, specifically to assist and protect visitors. Extensive use of CCTV cameras in stations, on platforms, and inside vehicles, monitored by the municipality and police, ensures that no spot is left unattended.
Cleaning and urban maintenance are public-sector priorities. The scale of cleaning in a city of over 16 million is monumental, and the İBB treats it as a visible marker of governance. There is a 24/7 municipal cleaning workforce: the İBB’s cleaning department employs thousands of workers who operate in shifts around the clock, especially in high-traffic tourist zones such as Istiklal Street, Eminönü, and the squares around the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.
There are specialised teams for different tasks: street sweepers, beach cleaners along the Marmara Sea, waste collection from businesses and hotels, and even crews to clean historic walls and monuments. Waste management infrastructure is highly versatile: the municipality manages the entire waste chain, from collection to disposal in large recycling and energy recovery facilities. Public rubbish and recycling bins are plentiful in tourist areas. “Clean Istanbul” campaigns are regularly run by the İBB for public awareness, and it can impose fines for littering, aiming to foster a culture of cleanliness that supports the tourist experience.
Direct tourism facilitation and security information signage by the municipality and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism is provided through clear, multilingual directional signs to major attractions, with yellow signs marking historical sites. Major public spaces in tourist areas have been pedestrianised, for example sections around the Grand Bazaar and Istiklal Street, and are managed by municipal police to enhance safety and walkability.
For cultural infrastructure, the public sector, through the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, manages and maintains core tourist attractions such as museums, Topkapı Palace, mosques, and historic sites. There is an effective crisis and crowd management mechanism for major events or religious holidays, with the public sector deploying intricate security and crowd control plans involving municipal police, national police, and health services.
Another important factor is the orchestrating role of technology. The İBB has invested heavily in a Smart City platform and real-time monitoring, with a central command centre overseeing traffic, public transport, and security cameras. Applications such as “Bi İstanbul” provide real-time public transport information, tourist guides, and emergency contact points.
While the public-sector model is powerful, Istanbul faces ongoing challenges. The sheer volume of tourists—over 15 million per annum—strains all systems. Despite mega-projects, traffic remains a major issue, affecting tourist mobility and air quality. Competition from unlicensed guides, informal taxi drivers, and street vendors can sometimes create security and quality control issues that the municipality struggles to fully regulate. The glittering tourist centres contrast with some poorer peripheral districts, highlighting that the “model” is not uniformly applied.
Mentioning Istanbul without acknowledging the contribution of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would be highly unfair. He transformed Istanbul from a congested, historically rich but infrastructure-strained city into a global megalopolis defined by audacious mega-projects. His engineer’s mindset is the key lens through which this transformation can be understood. As Mayor in the 1990s, he adopted an efficient and technical problem-solving approach to address the strategic management issues confronting the historic metropolis. As a national leader, this evolved into a vision of geo-engineering, reshaping the very landscape to assert both Turkey’s and his own legacy.
The result is a dual legacy: a city with dramatically improved hard infrastructure and global reach, and a philosophy of top-down, rapid-fire transformation. Modern Istanbul is, in many ways, “Erdoğan’s City”—a physical manifestation of his will, ambition, and technocratic political philosophy.
In a nutshell, the Istanbul Model is a public-sector-led metropolitan enterprise defined by political ownership, strong visionary leadership, centralised mega-project-driven planning, and the use of modern technology.
Can Pakistan learn from the Istanbul model? We leave it to the judgment of the people of Pakistan and its leadership.
Adeela Naureen is a freelance journalist, and Waqar K Kauravi is a security analyst perusing his PhD from Altinbas University, Istanbul.
