The waterfront yals on the Bosphorus are among the most noticeable traits of Istanbul's cityscape.
Today, some are homes within the city's most exclusive neighborhoods, including Bebek. Further inland, between the Bosphorus Bridge and the Fatih Sultan Mehmet (Second Bosphorus) Bridge, are Levent, Maslak, and Mecidiyeköy, Istanbul's primary economic centers. Officially part of the Beikta and ili districts, they contain Istanbul's tallest buildings and the headquarters of Turkey's largest companies.
Like Beyolu, the districts of Üsküdar and Kadköy on the Asian side were originally separate cities, Chrysopolis and Chalcedon, respectively.[11] During the Ottoman period, they continued to remain outside the scope of urban Istanbul, serving as tranquil outposts with seaside yals and gardens. However, during the second half of the 20th century, the Asian side experienced massive urban growth, owning in part to the development of Badat Avenue into an upscale shopping hub similar to stiklal Avenue on the European side. The fact that these areas were largely empty until the 1960s also provided the chance for developing better infrastructure and tidier urban planning when compared with most other residential areas in the city. While now officially parts of Istanbul, much of the Asian side of the Bosphorus, which accounts for one third of the city's population, functions as a suburb of the economic and commercial centers in European Istanbul.