INTERFACE: Dam-City

Agencies that dominate the world water establishment promote big infrastructure projects and corporate investment in water supply as the key solutions to the “water crisis.” This approach will only worsen the problems they seek to solve and hinder the adoption of real solutions that are both available and affordable. A growing number of older dams are being decommissioned, because the social and environmental benefits of removing them outweigh the costs of maintaining them and the limited benefits they produce. Despite these, Turkey still have planned dams for future. Balçova Dam in İzmir is an example of the dams that are inactive/idle. Although there is no benefit from the dam now, its existence continues to harm the environment and create a barrier between the city and nature.

The project aims to re-function these damaged areas by transforming dams physically or socially. Instead of creating barriers, creating connections in terms of both social and physical transformations, while preserving a democratic approach to the water sources. Unlike simple beautification projects, landscape rejuvenation or recovery of dam areas, the project also tends to allow transformation by site-specific and adoptable new structures. Also, it will help to create a resource for other damaged areas to revitalize and continue to their life cycle.

PHASE 1 - RESISTANT: re-awakening within activism - no more dams; in order to force society to face the real problems and increase their awareness about environmental issues.

Art as a powerful mechanism to change the city; through collective action, it will help to instigate and propagate the urgent transformation of dams. “Activism within art-ivism”
Showing the natural and social impacts of dams, alternative or innovative methods,
Reminding the forgotten or lost values of our world before dams. Serving as a reminder of how we should take care of the nature and world’s resources for future.

PHASE 2 - CATALYST: showing the necessity and possibility of transforming existing dams.
Creating a common data structure for physical and social transformation of conventional urban infrastructure by site- specific and adoptable new structures.

PHASE 3 - REVIVAL: reverse the situation: dams were damaging nature with their existence – Balçova Dam will help to rehabilitation and preservation of water sources by its collected data and sources.

to enhance our ability to secure future water sources,
to contribute the combating loss of biological diversity,
to reduce our vulnerability to climatic changes.