Istanbul is Turkey’s most populous city, and its cultural and financial center.  Istanbul is the only city embracing two continents: Asia and Europe. The Bosphorus, meandering through the heart of the city, combines the waters of the Black Sea and Marmara Sea.

In the last decades, numerous tall structures have been built around the city to accommodate a rapid growth in population. Surrounding towns were absorbed into Istanbul as the city rapidly expanded outwards. The tallest high-rise office and residential buildings are mostly located in the northern areas of the European side, and especially in the business and shopping districts of Levent, Maslak, and Etiler which are situated between the Bosphorus Bridge and Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge.  The headquarters of Turkey’s largest companies and banks are also located in this area.

Starting from the second half of the 20th century, the Asian side of Istanbul, which was originally a tranquil place full of seaside summer residences and elegant chalet mansions surrounded by lush and vast umbrella pine gardens, experienced a massive urban growth. The construction of the long, wide and elegant Baðdat Avenue, with its rows of upscale shops and restaurants, contributed much to the initial expansion in the area. The fact that these areas were largely empty until the 1960s also provided the chance for developing better infrastructure and a tidier urban planning when compared with most other residential areas in the city. But the real expansion of the Asian side came with the opening of Ankara Asfaltý, the Asian extension of the E5 highway, which is located to the north of Baðdat Avenue, parallel to the railway line. Another important factor in the recent growth of the Asian side of the city was migration from Anatolia. Today, more than 1/3 of the city’s population live in the Asian side of Istanbul.

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