Critical realist literary geography: the case of Istanbul’s ferries as public space

In this article, I address the need to cultivate alternative public transport narratives by examining how public transport emerges as public space at the intersection of geography, literary studies, and critical realist philosophy of science. I contend that a critical realist return to literary analysis offers a lens for exploring how public transport is represented as a public space, attentive to the contexts in which human agency and intentionality are formed. Through a close reading of two post-1980s short stories, I aim to expose how literary works not only function as unofficial archives of urban experience but also contribute to the conditions of possibility for human agency.