Architecture in Translation

In Architecture in Translation, Esra Akcan offers a way to understand the global circulation of culture that extends the notion of translation beyond language to visual fields. Akcan shows how the ruling Kemalist elite further aligned themselves with Europe by choosing German-speaking architects to oversee much of the design of modern cities. Akcan traces the geographical circulation of major modern residential models from the 1920s through the 1950s including the garden city model, which emphasized green spaces separating functional zones and neighborhoods and low-density houses in gardens, and mass housing, first built for the working-class residents in industrial cities and more broadly for mixed-income residents later. Akcan shows how the concept of translation-the process of change that occurs with transportation from one or more countries to another of people, ideas, technology, information, and images-allows for consideration of the sociopolitical context and agency of all parties in cultural exchanges. Moving beyond the indistinct concepts of hybrid and transculturation and passive metaphors such as import, influence or transfer, translation offers a new approach relevant to many disciplines. Akcan advocates for a commitment to a new culture of translatability from below for a truly cosmopolitan ethics in a globalizing world.