Garden(s) of Pleasure: Un.Earthing Queer Occupations

Abstract

Positioning the ‘pleasure garden’ as a spatial framework within İstanbul’s dense historic core, focally in a former prostitution district and a recently explored archaeological site, the thesis situates narratives of collective leisure and resistance alongside ongoing urban politics of immoral places. Currently, queer spatial practices, which are vital to the local cultural landscapes, are actively marginalized and censored. Positioned against this erasure, the thesis introduces the concept of ‘unearthing’ to expose buried layers and spatial traces, as well as resurface countercultural informal gatherings that have been pushed underground. Through inhabiting various ruins and reclaiming fenced-off sites for public access, it envisions a series of fragmented gardens distributed across multiple topographical surfaces. Referencing the eclectic built form of the context, these fragments extend without clear boundaries, redefine ground relations, and utilize the city’s forgotten corners. Consequently, it reframes spaces of transgression as urban infrastructure and legitimized forms of spatial occupation.