section_path: Cityscape/Districts and neighborhoods/Asian side
section_name: Asian side
paragraph_text: Asian side
  
  During the Ottoman period, Üsküdar (then Scutari) and Kadıköy were outside the scope of the urban area, serving as tranquil outposts with seaside yalıs and gardens. But in the second half of the 20th century, the Asian side experienced major urban growth; the late development of this part of the city led to better infrastructure and tidier urban planning when compared with most other residential areas in the city. Much of the Asian side of the Bosporus functions as a suburb of the economic and commercial centers in European Istanbul, accounting for a third of the city's population but only a quarter of its employment. However, Kozyatağı – Ataşehir, Altunizade, Kavacık and Ümraniye, all together having around 1.4 million sqm of class-A office space, are now important " edge cities ", i.e. corridors and nodes of business and shopping centers and of tall residential buildings.