Yedikule Bostans (Historic Market Gardens)
Istanbul, Turkey · Operator: Yedikule Farmers / Tarihi Yedikule Bostanlarını Koruma Girişimi (Yedikule Gardens Protection Initiative)
Overview
Historic market gardens (bostans) surviving along Istanbul's Theodosian Walls since Byzantine and Ottoman times. While preserving organic urban agriculture and heirloom seeds, gardeners, citizens and activists have joined forces to resist redevelopment plans. The Yedikule marul (lettuce) has become a symbol of their struggle.
Citizen participation
Citizens, gardeners, researchers, artists, universities and NGOs have come together under the Yedikule Gardens Protection Initiative to defend the 1,500-year-old market gardens along the Theodosian Walls from redevelopment. An Association of Yedikule Farmers was founded in 2015 to protect the cultivators' rights, and residents take part in seed-saving, workshops and advocacy.
Operating model
Smallholder urban farming in which gardeners grow vegetables using traditional well irrigation and sell to local markets directly. The preservation effort is sustained by volunteers from civic groups, researchers and NGOs, together with cultural and research projects.
Impact
As one of the few surviving examples of urban agriculture in central Istanbul, it carries forward historic landscape, biodiversity and food culture. The preservation campaign has drawn international attention and sparked debate over urban green space and farming.
Land tenure
Gardeners cultivate publicly owned land along the city walls under customary/permitted arrangements, but tenure is precarious due to redevelopment plans.
Crops
- lettuce
- herbs
- greens
- tomato
- pepper
- cabbage
- fig
- mulberry
Scale
A belt of historic market gardens along the Theodosian Land Walls between the Topkapı and Yedikule gates; roughly 32 gardeners still cultivate the plots
Sources（5）
This entry is compiled from the public sources, official sites and research below.
- ArticleYedikule Gardens: the only urban agriculture example in Istanbul (ANF) ↗anfenglish.com
- ArticleMeet the Istanbul Farmers Fighting to Save Their 1,500-Year-Old Urban Gardens (Vice) ↗vice.com
- ArticleIstanbul's Historical Yedikule Gardens Face Destruction (Slow Food) ↗slowfood.com
- ArticleIstanbul's urban farmers face eviction from ancient gardens | Middle East Eye ↗middleeasteye.net
- ArticleIn Istanbul's Ancient Gardens, A Battle for Future Harvests - Yale E360 ↗e360.yale.edu
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