This paper explores how the system of meat supply influenced the topographical development of two marginal districts of sixteenth-century Istanbul. Through the combination of information contained in various historical sources, the paper reconstructs the economic links between some of their ‘dependent’ establishments such as slaughterhouses, tanning workshops, candle- and soapmakers. Throughout, it is argued that decisions about the location of these establishments were closely related to social, economic and probably technological factors of the era.