Alternative Shopping Places: Periodic Markets in Istanbul

This paper investigates the spatial and temporal characteristics of periodic markets ( pazar ) in à stanbul, by means of analyzing the behavioral patterns of sellers and buyers. Periodic markets have their own products, their own ways of marketing, their own architecture and their own olfactory characteristics. All these factors together create a local culture. some periodic markets have been operating in the same place since the ottoman times. Others have sprung up both in squatter ( gecekondu ) neighborhoods and newly planned urban neighborhoods. So, they can be classified as traditional and modern. Neighborhood markets and the term "going to the market" is part of a traditional life style both in Turkey and à stanbul. Periodic markets range from farmers' markets that open up in a relatively more central empty location, on certain days of the week, to periodic markets that open up in central locations in the city, on certain days of the week. So, they happen to be representations of spatial cultural differences. besides providing basic needs for consumption ( food,clothing etc.), they also provide an environment of social interactions. à stanbul is a city that provides, anything and everything that can be bought, to her inhabitants. Like elsewhere in the world, new shopping trends are forcing the periodic markets for structural changes. Even in the most traditional neighborhoods, periodic markets are surviving the changes and no decline has been observed in the "going to the market" habits of à stanbul inhabitants.