İzmir must aim for EXPO again

Paris will host the 2024 Summer Olympics Games. The city is already preparing for the event.

Since Emmanuel Macron was elected president, the French government has been formulating plans to make the country, and especially Paris, greener.

Nicolas Hulot, a special adviser to the French president and Minister of Ecology and Solidary Transition, announced that France wants to end sales of petrol and diesel-powered vehicles by 2040 in order to fight global warming.

The prohibition has been brought forward for Paris, where authorities say the ban will come into effect a decade earlier, in 2030.

They also announced that all diesel vehicles will be banned from Paris by 2024, when the Summer Olympics are scheduled to take place. They justified this decision on the grounds that the city’s air pollution comes from the high level of exhaust fumes in the city. In order to counter this problem, the city has already enforced various temporary prohibitions.

While we are still angrily debating how we should approach urban planning in Turkey, in Paris they are already busy bringing their 2040 plans forward.

Paris already attracts more tourists than any other city in the world. So why did it also bid for the Summer Olympics? The answer is simple. The games will provide yet another opportunity to renew and advertise the city.

The French use all kinds of activities to promote their capital. They make sure Paris does not fall off the world’s agenda.

I often say that a lack of international organizations is the biggest shortfall in Turkey’s cities.

EXPO is the world’s largest public exhibition and could be a vitally important project for İzmir. Losing out in the bid to host

EXPO twice does not change the fact that İzmir is an ideal city for it. We must try our luck one more time.

The news from Paris has brought another fact to light: The era of hybrid and electrical vehicles is coming. Paris has already provided a start- and end-date for the transition process.

Turkey is also due to produce its own electric automobile. Like Paris, the crowded cities of Turkey should also set ambitious new goals for themselves.

İzmir can do this. İzmir could become Turkey’s leading city in this regard. It could announce traffic regulations concerning the city center.

In sum, it is important to set goals.

Street performances

Are streets not richer for street art? Do musical and even silent performances not add something to the urban crowds? What could be wrong with this?

Unfortunately, a street performer in İzmir’s Karşıyaka district was recently fined 82 Turkish Liras for “being too noisy” and “causing a public disturbance.”

The street performer, named Ilker Kılıçer, reportedly refused to pay the fine.

Our bureaucracy apparently chose to pursue a declared 82 liras instead of pursuing the billions of dollars of profits that go undeclared in Turkey.

Repossession proceedings against Kılıçer started shortly after he refused to pay the fine.

But just before property seizure operations began, Karşıyaka Mayor Hüseyin Mutlu Akpınar took control of the situation, paying the fine and apologizing for the misunderstanding.

The mayor’s intervention was commendable. We must glorify art and the artist. We must fill our galleries and streets with art.