"Cities have always been global nodes where people, cultures and goods
intersect. More than any other of the Urban Age cities, Istanbul has
performed this function for several thousand years: a global ‘hinge’
city that connects civilisations and continents.
While it may not be growing at the dizzying pace of Mumbai or Shanghai,
nor suffering from the widening social inequality and violence of São Paulo,
Mexico City or Johannesburg, Istanbul faces many of the same challenges
confronted by all Urban Age cities including London, Berlin and New York:
economic stability, social cohesion and climate change." Urban Age Istanbul Newspaper (PDF)