Turkey completed the first stage of the capital accumulation process two centuries after the US.

Currently I am reading Helene Wecker’s one and only novel, The Golem and the Jinni. I have to say that it has been a delightful reading adventure. The story takes place in the second half of the nineteenth century. It is about the first immigrants to New York. While reading, I have realized that New York’s giant Central Park enters the story constantly, like one of the characters. Naturally, I have been wondering how Americans built and more importantly have preserved that giant park at the center of Manhattan Island, New York. After all, the park is located in one of the hottest spots of the world, probably worth 2500 dollars per square meter. How, I wondered. Let me tell you how.

It seems like the twenty-first century will be that of cities. In 2008, the world’s urban population surpassed its rural population. About 80 percent of the world GDP is generated in cities. It was not long ago, in the 1960s, when only 30 percent of the world population lived in cities. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the rate was just 10 percent. Cities have grown huge since then. A few more facts: In the 1880s, China’s capital, Beijing, was the only city where more than one million people lived. The number of cities with populations over 1 million reached 16 in the early twentieth century and 378 in 2000. This means, urbanization and issues of urbanization are common concerns for the entire world population. New York’s population exceeded a million by the early twentieth century and currently is over 8.5 million. Crowded, isn’t it? Manhattan Island is even more crowded. It is the most populous location in the city. Yet they have preserved a public park of approximately 850 acres at the center of the most populous borough of the world’s most populous city. The park initially opened in 1859 and has been sound and safe since then. Let me tell you why this astonishes me and derive a lesson. To begin with, I didn’t know it was created artificially by bringing soil and expropriating private property. I thought it had been there since the beginning, preserved as it is until today, but it was manmade. My mistake. If you are from Turkey, you cannot even imagine such thing happening. It is not common for us to have such an experience. Our multi-storey car parks are as big as an entire district, but our public parks – the ones I have seen so far, at least – are only as big as a handkerchief. Second, since its creation, the Central Park has never been sized down; on the contrary, it has expanded with additional expropriations. Third, zoning the Park for construction is not on the agenda of the New York City Council whatsoever. Weird!

TEPAV economist Ozan Acar lately has been comparing the agendas of the New York City Council and the Istanbul Municipal Council. Istanbul’s council extensively discusses changes in zoning regulations and zoning issues while New York’s council generally works to make the city more habitable, enjoyable and walkable. So, why has New York created and maintained Central Park as it is? Simply because the voters of the city want it so. Creating a public park became a main issue during the city government elections starting in 1810. The elected government kept its promise and had the park built. Central Park is and will remain what it is today thanks to the ballot box. It is our job to make sure that the ballot box enhances our lives here in Turkey instead of distributing unearned rent. Once I asked “Interest profit is illicit. Is real estate profit licit?” and it was for a reason. Turkey completed the first stage of the capital accumulation process two centuries after the US. With enough people on the roof, it is time to remove the ladder. Turkey has to start taxing profit on real estate.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 17.05.2013