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Co-written by bachelor students and their lecturer, this commentary is a critical reflection on the Materiality and Urban Politics (SOC387) course taught at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul in the summer of 2022. The course unfolded during a time of political unrest at Boğaziçi following the appointment of a new president, which brought the campus under a state of police siege. In this context, SOC387 explored relations between the material and the urban/political through democratic and inclusive pedagogical approaches. Bringing together reflections on the sociopolitical context in which the course took place, classroom pedagogies, and students’ commentaries, we reflect on how the course helped participants redefine their sense of belonging to, and engagement with, Istanbul’s urban/political environment during a time of perceived disempowerment and “crisis of democracy” in Turkey. By exploring the productive tensions between urban space, politics, and democratic pedagogy, this commentary argues that teaching and learning in and about the city can be cathartic in reinforcing participants’ will to act on and contribute to urban politics.&nbsp

Das Leben beschert uns viele Möglichkeiten, Resonanz mit der Welt um uns herum zu finden. Indem wir uns auf unsere Umgebung einlassen und uns von ihr beeinflussen lassen, können wir eine tiefere Verbindung zu uns selbst und anderen aufbauen. Das in Resonanz treten mit dem Raum ist der Grundmodus jedes lebendigen menschlichen Daseins. Jeden Tag treten wir in Beziehung zu unserer Umwelt, egal ob mit anderen Menschen, Tieren, der Natur, Maschinen, Dingen oder Materialien... Doch unsere Welt ist geprägt durch die Beschleunigung und das ständige in Reichweite bringen. Alles muss immer optimiert und schneller gemacht werden. Dieser „Zwang“ zur Steigerung und Neuerfindung führt zu einer psychischen Überforderung, die unsere Beziehungen zu uns selbst und anderen stört. Sind wir also noch in der Lage uns erreichen und berühren zu lassen? Wollen wir die Welt um uns herum noch hören? Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist diesem Phänomen entgegenzuwirken und eine neue Art Raum zu schaffen, in der wir Resonanzerfahrung sammeln. Einen Ort, der uns erreicht und uns etwas bedeutet. Das Hotel nimmt in dieser Arbeit eine besondere Rolle ein. Es dient als Aufenthaltsort, bei dem die Menschen ihrem stressigen Alltag für eine kurze Zeit „entkommen“ können und bietet eine andere Art und Weise mit den Menschen, dem Ort und der Kultur in Beziehung zu treten. Eine Architektur als Zeichen der Entschleunigung - im Leben einen Gang runter schalten, eine Pause gönnen, entspannen und berühren lassen., Masterarbeit Universität Innsbruck 2024

This study specifically examines the Ataturk Cultural Centre, AKM in Istanbul from 1956 until the present by focusing on the issue of reconstruction of the same building by the Tabanlıoğlu father-and-son generation. This examination explores how the design of the Ataturk Cultural Centre evolved from Hayati Tabanlıoğlu's initial concept to Murat Tabanlıoğlu's subsequent contributions. The aim is to explore the dynamic between the original and the new construction of the building and to assess how the redesigned AKM cultivates a socio-economic impact within the culture it serves. At first, at to request of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, French architect Henri Prost proposed an urban plan for Istanbul. This plan included the innovative concept of building an opera house in Taksim Square, known as the 'Istanbul Opera House'. Later it will be known as the ‘Palace of Culture’. The government actively chose to uphold and carry forward the legacy of this design idea, recognizing its significant cultural value. The new AKM particularly emphasizes the importance of preserving key design features of the old AKM. Based on the argument that there is a direct proportion between the old and the new main volume, this study aims to show that the new AKM has enhanced public-related functions instead of creating only one big opera space. AKM was initially thought of only as an opera house but was re-identified as a 'Cultural Lane' in line with the needs of its time. For this reason, the scope of the study consists of analyzing the design evolution between 1956 and the present. It tries to verify that these architects together with their generational background, the education they received, and the quality of the spaces they created. According to the research, it sees that there is a significant connection between old and new AKM. In this context, the hypothesis derives from that the new AKM, preserving key design features, has evolved beyond its initial role as an opera house, transforming in, AR2A011, Architectural History Thesis, Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences

A partir de una revisión de conceptos y críticas principales y complementarias del derecho a la ciudad, este estudio pretende llenar los vacíos en la literatura sobre el derecho a la ciudad de los individuos y grupos vulnerables que enfrentan diversas formas de exclusión socio-espacial en la vida cotidiana. Argumenta que los problemas relacionados con el derecho a la ciudad se pueden abordar mejor analizando las experiencias de la vida real de los habitantes urbanos vulnerables. Dicho análisis, basado en el caso de Estambul, se desarrolló a través de 48 entrevistas realizadas a habitantes de la ciudad que se identificaron con una o varias categorías de vulnerabilidad sociológica. A partir de los relatos de los encuestados sobre las relaciones sociales que establecen en el espacio público, el artículo concluye con una discusión basada en la literatura sobre cómo lograr y mantener con éxito el derecho a la ciudad., This paper, building on the review of the main and complementary concepts and criticisms of Lefebvre’s right to the city, aims to fill a gap in literature concerning the right to the city of vulnerable individuals and groups who face several forms of socio-spatial exclusion in everyday life. It argues that the problems associated with the right to the city particularly affect the vulnerable and can be better addressed by examining the accounts of real-life experiences relayed by vulnerable individuals. Such an examination is delivered based on the case of Istanbul through 48 interviews conducted with city residents who identify themselves with one or more major sociological vulnerability categories. From the accounts of the interviewees’ perceptions of the socio-spatial relationships they establish in public space, the paper concludes with a discussion of the ways in which the right to the city can be achieved and sustained more successfully.

The global unsustainable production and consumption patterns in the fashion and textile industry are a prevailing problem. With the rising trend of European brands reshoring their textile manufacturing and upcoming circular economy frameworks from the EU, the Turkish textile industry may face pressures to transform towards circularity in order to remain competitive. To address the research gap concerning prevalent challenges to implement circularity principles in the critical stage of product design, the purpose of this thesis is to explore the barriers to adopting circular product design in the Turkish textile sector from a manufacturers perspective. This study was conducted in Istanbul with eleven textile and apparel manufacturers of different kinds. To reach a nuanced understanding of each perspective, a qualitative research methodology, through semi-structured interviews with factory managers, was used. The empirical findings of barriers are categorised as internal (financial, responsibility, knowledge) and external (country- and industry-specific). Major internal barriers include prioritising profits over circularity, prioritising customer demand over circular design, and unfamiliarity with key concepts. Country-specific external barriers include lack of competent personnel in Turkey and harsh taxation policies. Industry-level barriers include insufficient resources, limited control over fast-fashion demands, and lack of innovative technologies. This thesis contributes to an increased understanding of the scarcely researched topic and enables practitioners to develop efficient policies and business strategies to ease sustainable business development. Future research is suggested to explore drivers and strategies to apply circular product design within the Turkish textile industry. Additionally, further research can be conducted where this study is replicated but from the perspective of brand retailers with procurement operations in Turkey.

The aim of this study was to assess the cultural heritage implications of converting Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey from a museum into a mosque in July 2020. Through analysing cultural heritage management as a tool that could support the building of nationalism, this thesis explores the links between nationalism and cultural heritage. Discourse Analysis was used to answer the research question, facilitating research on the selected texts and the respective political discourses. To study the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque, information was collected through the Internet, with an emphasis on interviews, articles, and tweets from Turkish government officials during the period from the reconversion of the monument to the present day. Discourse analysis shows that in our case, cultural heritage management was used within the context of emotional politics and the pursuit of political objectives of the ruling party with the side effect of disempowering subgroups of the Turkish society whose sense of history and place is not compatible with the prevailing discourse.

Kan træer have en form for bevidsthed? Kan de handle på eget initiativ? Thomas Arentzen er ekspert indenfor tidlig kristen poesi og litteratur og har forsket i de tidlige kristnes opfattelse af træer. Sidste efterår var Arentzen i Istanbul. Her mødte han træer, som har stået på hellige steder i hundredvis af år., (Detta är en dansk översättning av en essä som tidigare publicerats på norska.)

Children’s participation has been recognized asessential in participatory urban planning towards creating child-focused urban environments. However, it remains a challenge for researchers to address children’s role in urban planning, particularly in contexts where a culture of participation is missing from everyday practice. The COVID-19 pandemic posed additional challenges in executing participatory research. In this article, we applied a methodology of online artwork elicitations with ten children from Istanbul. From our co-generated research findings, we argue that children are valuable social agents not only in urban planning but also in the fight against urgent and dramatic challenges facingour planet. Children’s participation better informssolutionswhen children guide knowledge generation.

In Form eines Dialoges zwischen Berlin und Istanbul nähern wir uns über Fragen dem urbanen Autoritarismus ebenso wie den Formen des Widerstandes dagegen an. Dabei untersuchen wir unterschiedliche Ebenen von Partizipation in beiden Städten, die die Fiktion der städtischen Homogenität aufdecken und damit infrage stellen. Überdies gehen wir auf gegenwärtige Kämpfe gegen Gentrifizierung und „Bulldozer“-Methoden in der Stadtentwicklung ein. Wir widmen uns der Frage nach der Zentralisierung von Macht sowie der Notwendigkeit von veritablen Zukunftsvisionen.

Throughout history, fresh water supply has been an issue of political, social, economic, and cultural importance to cities. Istanbul and its hinterland have a rich water heritage of more than 1,500 years. This includes dams, tunnels, aqueducts, distribution stations, water towers, reservoirs, fountains, and baths, as well as the social and cultural traditions that go with them. Many of these remains are protected by cultural heritage regulations but also suffer from neglect, uncontrolled urban development, and deliberate destruction. At present, planners, policymakers, and the public are insufficiently aware of the value and potential of this heritage. The Netherlands Institute in Turkey (NIT) Urban Heritage Lab was set up in 2021 to address urban sustainability challenges through heritage-focused education programs. It operates from the basic notion that contemporary urban issues require (conservation) architects, planners and heritage professionals that are trained in multi-disciplinary approaches. To address the challenges and possibilities for the transformation and reuse of water heritage from a multi-disciplinary perspective, the Urban Heritage Lab offered a post-graduate course in the autumn of 2022. The course took place partly online (lectures and discussions), partly on-site in Istanbul (field trips, study groups, and workshops), and was open to early-career professionals and graduate students of any discipline from higher education institutions in the Netherlands and Türkiye. We will show that our course ‘Water Heritage for Sustainable Cities’ explored water heritage by approaching it as a complex network of material and immaterial remains - not as isolated historical relics - in a modern urban setting. With a focus on Istanbul’s water heritage and discussing case studies from elsewhere, the course participants investigated how water heritage can be employed to raise awareness of worldwide historical and contemporary water issues. In this way, the course re, The organization of this international colloquium was made possible through the generous fi nancial support of the DIOS Incentive Fund (UHasselt), the Doctoral School of Behavioral Sciences and Humanities (UHasselt), and the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), as well as the invaluable practical assistance provided by the Faculty of Architecture and Arts of UHasselt and the Flanders Architecture Institute. Our heartfelt appreciation goes out to all our esteemed colleagues whose dedicated efforts contributed to the seamless execution of this event. This colloquium is organized as an extension of the exhibition As Found: Experiments in Preservation by the Flanders Architecture Institute. Curated by Sofie De Caigny, Hulya Ertas and Bie Plevoets, the exhibition is on show at De Singel, Antwerp, from 6 September 2023 to 17 March 2024. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue, available in English (ISBN: 9789492567321) and Dutch (ISBN: 9789492567338)., Landscape Architecture

This research is rooted in defining the marginlands of Istanbul; comprised of the city’s backstages, cracks, and fissures. It proposes an intervention along the historic margins of the city’s Land Walls, now swallowed by urban sprawl and existing as an interstitial inner-city threshold. The lands of such margins harbour an air of latency, having recently been razed to the ground, or earmarked for oncoming ‘urban transformation’; one that can only be described as ‘hyper-commodification’. Local planning authorities commercialise lands historically hosting informal practice under the guise of creating common public space. However, the resulting parks, playgrounds or sports fields simultaneously erase the material and cultural fabric of such margins. Through ethnographic research, the project documents and celebrates the hidden spaces carved out of the marginlands for marginal actors to co-exist in the relentlessly commodified city. I will introduce three Custodians doing so within the framework available to them: the Street Gleaner, the Moat Gardener, and the Last Inhabitant. The proposed intervention provides a physical and social framework to host such custodians, their practices, and the materials that have already seeped into the city’s fissures. This design proposes a toolbox of affordances at three scales: Territorial, Structural and Habitual, to foster a Contemporary Commons in this context. Enabled by the toolkit, it begins the transition away from the more precarious occupations of the Custodians towards more productive practices engaging a wider and more diverse network of actors associated with the chosen sites. The resulting Commons acts as a platform for enrichment of involved actors’ roles: master, teacher, pro-sumer, maker, activist, learner, apprentice - diversifying and strengthening the former margins., Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences | Transitional Territories

Cíl této bakalářské práce představují analýza přepravního proudu do severní Evropy a návrh nového koridoru. V první části práce autor věnuje pozornost analýze současného stavu stávajících koridorů. Druhá část se zaměřuje na popis návrhu nového koridoru. Třetí část práce je věnována zhodnocení návrhu a jeho porovnání se stávajícím stavem., The aim of the bachelor's thesis is the analysis of the transport flow to Northern Europe and the design of a new corridor. In the first part of the work, the author analyzes the current state of the existing corridors. In the second part of the work, the design of the new corridor will be described. The third part of the work is devoted to the evaluation of the proposal and its comparison with the current state., Dopravní fakulta Jana Pernera, Problematiku řešenou ve své bakalářské práci dokázal student odpovídajícím způsobem obhájit. Prokázal schopnost samostatné práce. Na doplňkové otázky reagoval pohotově, se znalostí věci a bez závažných nepřesností je zodpověděl., Dokončená práce s úspěšnou obhajobou

Once, the Haydarpasa Railyard in Istanbul was a key link for railway traffic between Europe and Asia and a gate to the Turkish hinterland and Middle East. After the opening of the Bosphorus-crossing Marmaray Tunnel, it has lost its function and became abandoned. Taking into account the various historical layers as well as the place of the site in the public memory, the design project proposes transforming the site into a park. This park is defined by the loop, a walkway on the path of a former sidetrack that defines the perimeter of the park and connects its different zones. Along the loop, several interventions related to the different historical layers of the site and the inherent nostalgia are introduced. One of them is the ensemble of a panorama on top of an old turning disc as well as an existing ruinous locomotive shed, together forming a catalyst of nostalgia at the entrance of the new park. Now, after the train-traveling has stopped, this new Eastern gate to the park enables travels in time., Transient Liquidities along the New Silk Road, Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences | Borders and Territories

The focus of this thesis is on the phenomenon of the informal settlement and its informal economy. The location of the graduation project called Tarlabası is an informal settlement in the middle of the city centre of Istanbul. The neighbourhood has been a shelter for the poor, refugees and minorities for generations. The district functions as its own hidden and self-regulating world. This has created an informal economy that is inextricably linked to the rest of Istanbul, such as the waste/recycling industry. It cannot exist without the informal branch of waste pickers, who are responsible for 80% of recycling in Turkey. The unique district of Tarlabası is seen as bad and criminal by the authoritarian neoliberal city planners. Therefore, the neighbourhood has already been hit by gentrification processes, ignoring the unique characteristics and social roots of this neighbourhood. Urban renewal or gentrification or however you want to name it, is seen as a necessary tool to erase certain parts of social and physical identities created in the last 50 years via programs of demolition and resettlement. Residents are evicted or given unfair compensation to leave their homes or workplaces. As a result, the gentrification processes result in a displacement of the poor, driving them away from the city centre and their informal work. In 2009, at least one million residents in Istanbul were under threat of forced eviction due to the Urban Transformation Project. The unique characteristics, such as creativity, flexibility, intrinsic value and self-regulation are ignored by the top-down view of modernization, leading to generic neighbourhoods without economic flexibility and with social segregation, but also resulting in a further decline of informal settlements. This thesis aims to take a critical look at the current neoliberalist modernization processes of urban areas around the world through the case of Istanbul. Urban informality is receiving more and mor, Borders and Territories, Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences | Borders and Territories

The vast area that has become available with the closure of Atatürk Havalimanı has turned into a void in the metropolis. Although it is deeply ingrained in the fabric of the city and its infrastructure, the area is completely closed off and inaccessible to the public. This raises the question: How can architecture transform enclosed urban areas and engender their transformation into public space? Especially in Istanbul, where the number of enclosed areas has steadily increased, it is relevant to research how architecture can address enclosure. Specifically, the areas abandoned due to the departure and closure of an airport need to be considered because they are deeply integrated into the fabric of the city and its infrastructure. The transformation of the former Atatürk Havalimanı will explore the relationships between the city, the void, and its exclusionary perimeter. The project aims to establish an approach to the transformation of existing infrastructure. It encompasses various disciplines within the faculty and, therefore, serves as an interesting exercise in transferability. With the practice of architecture becoming an increasingly interdisciplinary field, these types of projects offer valuable insights into the boundaries of the field and how methods traditionally associated with architecture can be applied on larger and smaller scales. The fence-like structure is based on design principles derived from my urban analysis, theoretical research, and the local conditions. Therefore, the design is specific to its site, but the methods discovered throughout the process and the conceptual approach are transferable. For instance, the research and subsequent design consider the thresholds between different identities as spaces with a certain depth. This approach can be valuable in enhancing spaces and reflecting on the spatial conditions that shape them., Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences | Borders and Territories

The understanding of Architecture History on the evolvement of architecture through generations and cultures is a fundamental tool to gain knowledge about our past, ourselves and the world around us. The topic that will be touched upon in this thesis is the architectural evolution of mosques in Istanbul between the last regime of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic. The aim of the research is to investigate how mosques evolved in Istanbul between the regime of the Ottoman Empire (1839-1922) and that of the Republic of Turkey (1923-2022). Furthermore, the correlation between Ottoman mosques and Post-Ottoman mosques within the research area, and the influence of politics on their development will be analyzed for a better understanding of the mosque architecture in Istanbul. The methodology is a descriptive comparative analysis, supported by photographs and architectural drawings. Additionally, case studies (Ortakoy Mosque (1856), Ertugrul Tekke Mosque (1896), Sisli Mosque (1949) and Marmara İlahiyat Camii (2015)) will be conducted on various architectural scales; urban context, morphology, exterior and interior, and an investigation on the political background of the reigning era. Based on the research it is concluded that the mosque has evolved through mimicking the mosque architecture of the Ottoman Empire, this movement was influenced by the political system of the early Republican era. However, the contemporary mosque does not literally replicate the grandiose mosque of the past. It includes the modern innovations and trends of its time: a modern interpretation of the past glory of the Ottoman architecture., AR2A011, Architectural History Thesis, Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences

The aim of this articleis to discuss challenges and to develop recommendations in addressing community engagement in public space design. In this respect, the article examines Turkish planning legislation and analyse three projects from Istanbul, Bursa and Eskişehir from Türkiye. The research methodology is based on literature review and online interviews with the officials and professionals who worked in these projects. As a result, the recommendations related to legal-institutional context, engagement mechanisms, participation and coordination of actors, design and implementation process of community engagement in public space design are presented to create more quality and inclusive public spaces in Türkiye.

In this study, the spatial distribution of pharmacies is investigated in Istanbul by taking into consideration their important role for the health care delivery system. First, the growth of the number of pharmacies is compared with the growth rate of population at the city level during the last two decades within perspective of changes in health care delivery policies. Then, the growth of the number of pharmacies is compared with respect to the population growth rate of the core, intermediate and peripheral zones. The second, the changes in the pharmacy market areas are compared at the city level and in the core, intermediate and peripheral zones within the same period. Third, the regression analysis is used to show the relationships between the number of pharmacies in the districts and the population, number of hospital beds and number of physicians during the same period of time. Suggestions are made for more balanced distribution of pharmacies in order to prevent bankruptcies while sufficient accessibility provided for the customers, and for future research.

This thesis sheds light on border crossings of popular music genres and proposes a novel approach to studying circulation of popular music across the globe. It propounds a critical discussion on the conventions and politics of knowledge production and dissemination within the scholarship that lies in the intersection of popular music studies, ethnomusicology and music sociology. The thesis points to the predominance of structure-driven and conjuncture-oriented approaches as well as issues of comprehension and representation within the scholarship, and it motivates an actor-oriented approach to account for transregional circulation of popular music genres. Through taking indie music in Istanbul as its case, the thesis develops an alternative approach called "genre transfer." It focuses on the emergence and development of indie music within the regional context of Istanbul from the 1990s to the 2010s. Apart from identifying the key agents and institutions that have been involved in the process of indie music's local legitimization, the thesis analyzes the agents' changing conditions, relations and strategies that have provided base to the transformation of their practices. In doing so, the thesis draws upon actor-oriented approaches of cultural transfer studies and remains informed by analytical and epistemological concerns laid out within the fields of relational sociology and sociology of knowledge.

Evoking the Istanbul space under the eyes of a French journalist, Valérie Manteau’s Le Sillon offers a walk within Istanbul. It is in search of the sensitive dimension of this space that we rely in this research on the key concepts of “literary geography” defined by Michel Collot. In order to retrace the Istanbulite “landscape”. This one, anchored in oppressions and forgetful-ness imposed on space, repels walkers at the same time as it attracts them: they leave the space while having left a part of themselves there. Thus, the landscape Istanbulite is engraved on Le sillon which is structured page by page in the way the city appears., Evoquant l’espace stambouliote sous regard d’une journaliste française, Le Sillon de Valérie Manteau propose une balade au sein d’Istanbul. C’est à la recherche de la dimension sensible de cet espace que nous nous appuyons, lors de la présente recherche, sur les concepts clés de « la géographie littéraire », définie par Michel Collot, afin de retracer le « paysage » stambouliote. Celui-ci, ancré dans les oppressions et les oublis imposés à l'espace, repousse les passants en même temps qu'il les attire : ces derniers quittent donc l'espace tout en y ayant laissé une part d'eux-mêmes. Ainsi tracé, le paysage istanbuliote se grave sur Le Sillon qui se structure page par page de la façon dont la ville apparaît., Evocando el espacio de Estambul bajo los ojos de una periodista francesa, Le Sillon de Valérie Manteau ofrece un paseo por Estambul. En busca de la dimensión sensible de este espacio, nos apoyamos en esta investigación en los conceptos claves de la «geografía literaria», definidos por Michel Collot, para reproducir el «paisaje» estambulí. Éste, anclado en las opresiones y el olvido impuestos al espacio, repele a los caminantes a la vez que los atrae: abandonan el espacio habiendo dejado allí una parte de sí mismos. Así, el paisaje estambulí se despliega en Le Sillon, que se estructura página a página en la forma en que aparece la ciudad.

According to the Index of Risk Management-INFORM 2020 Report, Turkey was included in the group of “high-risk” countries in terms of humanitarian crises and disasters with an index score of 5.0 in 2019. In statistics related to the damage caused by disasters, it is known that natural disasters cause a 3% loss in Turkey's gross national product every year, and this rate approaches 4-5% with indirect losses. Since disasters cause socioeconomic, physical, and institutional losses, attention has been given to the importance of disaster management and risk reduction studies. This paper focuses on vulnerability assessments and presents a multi-criteria decision-making and earthquake-related vulnerability assessment method by using physical and socioeconomic parameters in the Historic Peninsula. A Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method was applied in this study because vulnerability assessments are complex and depend on many different criteria. Due to its flexible structure, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is one of the MCDM methods widely used in urban vulnerability assessment studies, was preferred and integrated with Geographic Information Systems. As a result of the study, it is found that approximately 49% of the district is at a moderate vulnerability level in terms of socioeconomic characteristics. For the structural characteristics, this rate is found to be at a high vulnerability level of 93%. The remaining 7% is moderately vulnerable. In this context, emphasis should be placed on identifying risky structures and strengthening and renovating them in the Historic Peninsula. The results of the method proposed in this study can be used as a basis for risk reduction studies. In addition, it can be a guide in pre-disaster risk reduction studies and can be integrated into city planning processes to keep disaster damage at minimum levels and predict the damage that may occur in settlements. The proposed method is a low-cost and short-term analysis that

This thesis has been commissioned by the Delft University of Technology for the course AR2A011 Architectural History Thesis. This thesis focusses on the city of Istanbul. Istanbul enjoyed a unique status as the capital city of two great civilisations: the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Over the centuries, the city absorbed and reflected the cultural heritage of its rulers; Eastern Orthodox Christianity followed by Islamic Ottoman civilisation. Its metamorphosis from “Roma Nova" to the "sacred city of Islam" produced unparalleled configurations in its urban form. As a result of this, Istanbul nowadays faces great fragmentation of its urban plan. In this urban plan different heritage buildings and historic urban plans collide. The directory of this thesis will be to provide a solution on how in 21st century Istanbul can deal with its fragmented urban plan, while also preserving its complex heritage. Therefore the main question states: How should the fragmentation of Istanbuls urban plan be dealt with in the future, while preserving its heritage both ancient, historic and modern? In order to conclude on this several subquestion have been drawn up. These state: I. What ancient heritage, cultural and architectural, are still visible in Istanbul? II. How did the nineteenth century modernization movement in Istanbul viewed and dealt with the heritage? III. What are the main principles to deal with heritage? Which of these principles are applicable to the present day urban plan of Istanbul? Opening with an architectural survey of The Ancient, Byzantine and Ottoman city the complex heritage of Istanbul is explained. This is followed with the description of the late nineteenth modernization movement, essentially being a longing to the west, which contributed to the fragmented urban plan by implementing an architectural plurality in Istanbul. Finally in order to make a proposition, a framework by Janssen et al. is introduced that shows three approaches on how to, AR2A011, Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences

During the last two decades, Istanbul experienced rapid growth due to national and international migration. In addition, multi-center development of the city, construction of peripheral highways,  bridges and metro systems have affected  the economic, cultural and physical structure of the city.  The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the changes of the housing types and prices from the center to the periphery.  While  some of the fashionable neighborhoods lost their importance through time, some new neighborhoods became fashionable due to their modern buildings in the green areas. The great impact of  Bosphourus and Marmara Sea shores amenities on the type and price of housing was emphasized.  Economic development, globalization, restructuring and strategic locations have contributed to improve the quality of housing and to increase their prices. Due to increasing income gap, there is a widening difference between the types of low-income and upper-income housing.

International Journal of Middle East Studies. 2022, 54 (2), P.302-318

Günümüzde ülkelerin/şehirlerin, genel anlamıyla yerlerin, dünya kaynaklarından daha çok pay alabilmek amacı ile bulundukları yerleri birer marka gibi yönetebilecekleri anlayışı yaygınlaşmaktadır. Başarılı bir marka yaratmanın bugüne dek ürün ve işletme markalarına büyük yararlar sağlamasından hareketle, markaların değerinin nasıl ölçülebileceği ile ilgili birçok çalışma yapılmıştır. Güncel bir konu da yerlerin markalaşması için neler yapılabileceği ve bu markaların nasıl yönetileceğidir.Bu çalışma ile yerlerin, turistik amaçla ziyaret edilen destinasyonlar perspektifinden markalaşması incelenmiş ve İstanbul konu alınarak, bir destinasyon markasının değerinin nasıl ölçebileceği konusuna katkı sağlanması amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmanın sonucunda, İstanbul destinasyon marka değerini belirleyen faktörler ortaya konmuştur. Bunlar sırası ile tatmin sağlama, tanınmışlık, beğenilme, güven verme ve lider markalardan biri olarak anılmadır., The concept of managing countries/cities, places in general, in the same way of managing a brand, is gaining importance with an aim of getting a better share from the world?s scarce resources. As the benefit of branding for products and firms is already well understood, numerous studies have been conducted so far to understand the brand and to define a metrics for measuring the brand equity. And recently studies have intensified to understand place brands and how to manage them.In this study, places in terms of touristic destinations were taken into consideration and the concept of destination branding has been searched. Then a survey has been conducted to find out how to measure a destination brand equity, choosing Istanbul as a case study. As a result, factors that determinate Istanbul?s brand equity have been defined which are respectively; giving satisfaction, being well known, to be liked, giving the feeling of safety and to be known as the leader destination brands.

Fringe belts, founded on the peripheries of the city and thereafter being embedded in urbanized areas, can transform in time. They may either modify without losing the fringe belt character or alienate by being absorbed in residential or commercial growth. Especially in large cities with strong and rapid dynamics of change, the concept of fringe belt alienation can be a focal node for monitoring the transformations. Besides the morphological aspects, it is significant to examine the agencies that play roles behind these transformations. This paper intends to make contributions to the fringe belt literature in terms of morphological agencies by analyzing the alienated fringe belt plots in Istanbul that has the characteristics of both an ancient historical city and a megacity of today. The research deals with three major subjects: Istanbul’s fringe belt development, alienated fringe belt plots by morphology, configuration and property, and agencies involved in the alienation processes. Firstly, inner, middle, and outer fringe belts of Istanbul are identified. Their formation phases are observed to put forth a typical narrative of Istanbul’s urban development. Then, alienated fringe belt plots are analyzed with four case studies. The plot development cycles are examined to reveal the relationship between the plot and the building in each case. This examination addresses the phases of the formation and the first cycle of plot development. Second cycles are observed as the result of the transformations both in form and utilization. Finally, morphological agency networks of the cases are displayed by elaborating the active agents in transformation phases. They are categorized into five groups and analyzed by a network analysis. The motivations behind the agent behavior which reflect the periodization of urban development in Istanbul are also unveiled in this paper.

Up-to-date information about different forms of land-use (residential areas, industrial areas, central business districts, recreational areas, etc.) is essential for city planning processes to obtain better urban and regional planning decisions. Traditional methods (e.g., field surveying or WEB/GPS based data collection) used to gather up-to-date information can often contain some errors and can also be time-consuming and expensive, especially for large metropolitan urban areas. With the integration of Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) related technologies, the difficulty of providing up-to-date information about different types of land-use can be greatly reduced. On the other hand, in terms of urban and regional planning, the level of utilization of these technologies is still considered to be insufficient. In this respect, authors wanted to draw attention to another possible usage of night-time data in urban and regional planning discipline for the purpose of determination of the location, size, and hierarchy of the attraction zones in urban scale which are mostly composed of central business districts (CBD), commercial zones, touristic corridors and/or concentration areas etc., as these regions are more illuminated areas compared to other zones of a city. Thus, a methodology based on GIS and RS integration and spatial and statistical analysis capabilities of GIS is presented in this study to determine the boundary and size of the attraction zones and their hierarchical levels by using the night-time imageries. To show how effective the suggested model is, the proposed methodology has been used in the city of Istanbul. The assessment of the location, size, and hierarchy of the attraction zones could give an essential decision support for the decision makers, especially those working in the urban planning discipline, as the attraction zones of cities need to be developed in a more specific and detailed manner. Thus, the model's outputs' r

One of the key issues of the urban planning agenda is how urban density be decided in the spatial configurations of future neighbourhoods to overcome complex challenges such as urban warming. This paper aims to reconsider urban density as a spatial planning instrument to develop effective densification policies, planning and design strategies in terms of surface urban heat island (SUHI) mitigation in Istanbul. The quantitative research embraced a four-stage methodology including grid-based sampling design, decoding the taxonomy of urban density-matrix (UDM), land surface temperature mapping, and ANOVA tests. Tests were conducted on the UDM consisting of nine building typologies representing the horizontal and vertical urban density. The research indicated that the impact of urbanisation on SUHI can be mitigated by controlling densities and urban forms based on quantitative findings. The highest temperatures were recorded in areas with high-coverage-mid-rise and mid-coverage-mid-rise development. The different levels of SUHI in different building typologies having the same density indicated the mitigation potentials of the built-form in Istanbul's local urban warming. Low coverage and high-rise building forms were an optimal solution for mitigating SUHI in densely populated urban areas. The research gives insight into an ongoing debate among urban professionals in Istanbul concerning the impacts of density and the urban form for climate adaptation. It enables professionals to understand the impact of urban planning decisions on microclimate and integrate them into the operational processes. Considering quantitative research findings as a strong foundation for developing policy recommendations and using them as a guideline may create new opportunities for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. The study has an original value for exploring design strategies to improve microclimate and promoting sustainable urban development.

[EN] This paper is analyzing the inside world of the naval officer Federico Gravina, his sensibility, their habits and cultural concerns, a nearly unexplored territory. It study an exceptional document from the perspective of social and cultural history of the 18th century Spanish Navy: the Descripción de Constantinopla by Gravina, a result of his voyage to Istanbul in 1788, commanding the frigate Santa Rosa, which was carrying the Sultan’s delegate from the Spanish Court to the Otoman capital. Though Gravina stayed in that city for a short time, he picked up many news of that culture –very exotic for an European of that time- and made personal observations on their features., [ES] Este trabajo explora el mundo interior del marino Federico Gravina, su sensibilidad, sus hábitos e inquietudes culturales…, un territorio poco conocido. Desde la perspectiva de una historia sociocultural de la oficialidad en la Real Armada del siglo XVIII, se analiza un texto de excepción: la Descripción de Constantinopla, obra del propio Gravina, con motivo de su viaje a Estambul en 1788, al mando de la fragata Santa Rosa, para llevar de vuelta al enviado del sultán a la corte de Carlos III. Aunque permaneció poco tiempo en la capital del imperio otomano, recogió toda clase de noticias y llevó a cabo una serie de observaciones personales acerca de aquella cultura, tan exótica para un europeo de la época.

The Ottomans ruled a vast empire incorporating many different religious and ethnic groups. The Christians and Jews among them, who were regarded in an Islamic context as “the people of the book,” were allowed to appeal to their religious authorities for issues of marriage and divorce. They were also permitted to appeal to the Sharia courts if they so wished. The existence of multiple legal orders created a complex system within the Empire, yet the practical workings of this legal system have rarely been studied. In this context, this dissertation focuses on the institutional practice and family dynamics of Ottoman legal pluralism as evidenced in the registers of the Sharia courts and the Patriarchal court in late seventeenth-century Istanbul. The appearance of non-Muslims in Sharia court registers has led many historians to conclude that non-Muslims widely used the Sharia courts since they were cheaper, more flexible, and more easily accessible, with the decisions of a Muslim judge possessing stronger enforcement power than non-Muslim community courts. This study challenges these assumptions and demonstrates that, at least in issues of divorce and remarriage, Greek Orthodox community members often frequented the Patriarchal court either exclusively or after getting a hüccet (legal writ) from the Sharia courts in order to have the decision of the Muslim judge approved by the Patriarchal synod. Ignoring their return to the Patriarchal court has led some scholars to assume that some Greek Orthodox community members opted for the Sharia court to the exclusion of ecclesiastical courts. Their appeal to the synod despite having an official divorce decree from the Sharia court presents substantial evidence regarding the authority - if not autonomy - and enforcement power of the Church. Despite the seemingly uncompromising attitude of the Church towards coreligionists who turned to the Islamic courts, this study shows that the Church was forgiving of its “unruly” members, a

MBArch - Màster Universitari en Estudis Avançats en Arquitectura-Barcelona: The Contemporary Project, Research focuses on the renovation of the abandoned or disused 19th-century railway stations to adapt them into the contemporary city as public exodus centers. The birth of railroad transportation became an evolution in transportation history, which was followed by the appearance of railway stations which evolved from simple cottages to cathedrals and palaces. Due to their “node” and “place” characters, station buildings became a convergence place of various social classes during history until the fall of railroad transportation in mid of 20th century and the abandonment of railway stations. On the contrary, stations, rather than being places keeping people away, have a very powerful potential to be hedonistic public spaces in contemporary cities through the five qualities that station buildings have. Thus, the research examines deeply three case studies that follow different strategies for the readaptation of abandoned 19th-century stations. Atocha Railway Station has been extended linearly behind the former station, and the historical building is used as a public space amidst the tropical garden. Railroads in Orsay Station have been moved laterally under the ground level, and the former station transformed into a museum which is a contemporary public space. The last case study, which is proposed by the author in Haydarpasa Railway Station, creates a new centrality by detaching the station terminal from the historical building. The former station is functioned as a cultural center, while the public space between the old and new station becomes a convergence place. Since railroad transportation is the strongest candidate to be the main actor of green and sustainable transportation in the near future, most 19th-century station buildings would gain importance to be the central point of dense transportation traffic. Thus, renovation of former stations as public exodus centers defines them as a meeting place for society and the city., Award-winning

The article, based on a number of sources and archival documents, describes the education of Turkestan youth in Turkey on the initiative of Jadid intellectuals and science-minded people in the early twentieth century. During this period, various educational institutions in Istanbul were attended by charitable societies founded by educators and many local young people of their own means. Their number increased every year. Young people sent to Istanbul, along with their education, established their own societies. The article also analyses the activities of these societies.

As climate change continues to threaten us more and more, different ways of governing climate change are considered. Multi-level governance approach is widely used in the literature to examine how global, national, and local actor interacts and influence each other. In this thesis I analyse how multi-level governance of climate change work in the case of Istanbul by adopting a powerbased approach. I conducted semi-structured interviews with representatives from Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, C40 network and Green Thought Association. Besides I qualitatively analysed documents from Turkish state, the municipality, and Green Thought Association. Findings suggest that the state holds regulatory power resources; therefore, the municipality has limited independence for implementing policies. Moreover, the laws that the municipality is subjected to does not address climate change adequately; thus, it prevents the municipality to access necessary financial resources. However, the collaborative relationship between the municipality and C40 increases the municipalities capacities through knowledge sharing. Enhanced interaction with civil society also increases the capacities of the municipality. I argue that, with the enhanced capacity, Istanbul could make effective advocacy towards the state to update the existing laws to be compatible with the climate change needs and put pressure on the state to do its share to contribute to global efforts to keep global warming at 2°C.

In the restructuring of the cities today, economic growth and its reflective trend multi-centred, urban development pattern made business enterprises shifted its locational choice in a decentralized way. As the focus of this paper, construction firms expended their market areas as well. The present study investigates the spatial distribution of construction firms according to the variables of socio-economic characteristics of districts and total construction sizes within the concept of multi-centre development in Istanbul. The paper describes the growth of the city and the construction firms through time according to the concentric zones and districts, firstly. Then descriptive figures and results of regression analysis are given by taking the number of construction firms as dependent variable and population, income per capita, average household size and amount of construction activity as the independent variables. Main hypothesis of this paper is that socio-economic indicators and total size of construction in building permits can explain the variance of number of construction firms in Istanbul district. Overall results from the multiple regression model indicate that the role of socio-economic indicators and total size of construction in building permits on the distribution of construction firms is proved on a large scale in the study. The spatial distribution of the construction firms has been figured out that the sub-central, peripheral districts of Istanbul have sustained the significant role in a way that responds to the construction supply, and housing sub-markets. However, the intense construction trends in the periphery reveal a fact that these firms preserve the location of their management offices in the sub-centre with relatively higher economic attraction, in central districts.

This thesis focuses on the challenges Istanbul faces due to extensive urbanisation and global warming. The metropole has become vulnerable to climate change, especially to the increasing threat of floods. As a result of urbanisation and poor city planning, the green spaces have decreased considerably in Istanbul, which reduced stormwater retention considerably. This is concerning, as green infrastructure provide ecosystem services that can serve as flood control. The thesis describes the context of Istanbul’s flood governance, including international, national and metropolitan flood policies and Istanbul’s flood resilience actor-network. In Istanbul’s flood risk management plans, the role that green infrastructure can play in flood control has been neglected. To meet this gap, this study aims to analyse how green infrastructure could enhance Istanbul’s flood resilience. Fatih is one of the oldest districts in Istanbul and is taken as a case study due to its high vulnerability to flash floods. The study presents a case study on Fatih with a spatial approach to monitor flood resilience and ecosystem services through green infrastructures that can foster resilience. A Geographic Information System in combination with a multi-criteria evaluation is used as a tool to identify priority areas for green infrastructure investments. Finally, the effect of three green infrastructure investments is analysed. The research finds that the indicators proposed by Li et al. (2016) are appropriate to use to analyse the priority areas for green infrastructure investment. These indicators reflect a system approach as they include technical, environmental as well as social variables. This is important for the city of Istanbul, as they provide a holistic framework with these indicators. Furthermore, using the flood map provided by ISKI, the flood sensitive areas in Fatih have been identified, and especially the infrastructures surrounding the main boulevard are subject to flooding. Molla, Industrial Ecology

Tophane is a conservative quarter in central Istanbul that has become known for its political support of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). This support has included violent vigilantism against oppositional groups. In the last decade, since gentrification has become more tangible in the area, violence has also turned against perceived newcomers and outsiders. Gentrification, however, is openly condoned and politically enforced by the AKP. Taking the neoliberal transformation of a neighbourhood in Istanbul that displays strong support for the governing party, as a starting point, this article engages with the governance of dissent and the production of consent on the sub-city level. I employ the Gramscian notion of the integral state to argue for a dialectical understanding of consent production in which consent and coercion are seen as intertwined, rather than opposed. To specify this point, I focus on the important, yet ambiguous, role of local state- and party-cadres (local intermediaries) in Istanbul’s urban governance. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews, I show that the neighbourhood in Turkey is a crucial political arena in which intermediaries function as important links between civil society and the state apparatus.

Purpose In relation to the advances in information economics the flow of capital, creative industries, high-speed transportation systems and spatial characteristics of cities have led to the proliferation of cultural economics. In this respect, the departure of industry from cities is considered as a significant opportunity for the spatial improvement of cultural economics. Brownfields and industrial sites that are likely to abandon residential areas in the future stand out on account of their potential for transformation. Accordingly, this study aims to shed light on the spatial future of İstanbul, where development is currently aimed at achieving a global city, and to provide an analytical framework for the likely transformation of brownfields and idle industrial heritage sites. Design/Methodology/Approach For the purposes of this study, Suitability Analysis was utilized to evaluate industrial heritage sites that are no longer functional and industrial sites that hold the potential for transformation in İstanbul from the perspective of cultural development strategies. Therefore, first of all, the factors that influence site selection and agglomeration of cultural functions and cultural industries were created, weighed and mapped. Second, the components that specify the spatial preferences of entrepreneurial, creative class, and progressive strategies as well as the corresponding weighs of these components were identified. Finally, cultural development strategies that may be used to address the industrial sites in İstanbul with the potential for transformation, and the weighs of these strategies were revealed by using the “multi-criteria evaluation” method. Findings Culture-led transformation is typically shaped with the high-income target of entrepreneurial strategies. However, the transformation process should be reinforced with creative and progressive strategies. In this context, sites that are favourable for transformation in İstanbul accommodate an immense po

İnsanın mekân edindiği her yeri, oranın ‘doğa’sını, karmaşık sosyo-ekolojik sistemler çerçevesinde değerlendirmek gerekir. Bu da dünyadaki her yeri böyle değerlendirmek gerektiği anlamına geliyor. Karmaşık sosyo-ekolojik sistemlerde insan besin zincirinde tepedeki yerini korur, öte yandan da ekolojik nişini büyütmeye devam eder (apartman dikmek için açılan taş ocaklarını düşünün), popülasyon arttıkça insanın kendi türüyle ve diğer türlerle rekabeti tür-içi ve tür-dışı işbirliğine ağır basar. Hem insanlar hem de insan olmayan duygusal varlıklar, yani hayvanlar, giderek artan bedeller öderler. İstanbul’da yaşayan insanlar ve diğer duygusal varlıklar bir süredir bu kısırdöngü içinde ya kaçacak yer arıyor ya da bir yaşam alanı oluşturmaya çalışıyor. İstanbullu bugün ne konuşur bilmiyorum artık ama 80’lerde İstanbul’da büyürken solastalji gündelik konuşmaların bir parçasıydı. Hem İstanbul’un eski sakinleri hem de benim ailemin de aralarında bulunduğu şehre yeni göç etmiş olanlar yani herkes betonlaşmadan şikâyet eder ormanlık tepelerin yok olduğundan bahseder ve balığın bolluğunu özlerdi. Yaşar Kemal’in 1978 tarihli Deniz Küstü romanında da (Kemal 1978) Balıkçı Selim bu ‘herkes’i temsil ediyordu; aslında yunusların, kılıç balıklarının peşinde dolaşarak eski İstanbul’u arar, her boş araziye ağaç dikerek karaya da kök salmaya çabalardı, bir yandan da bir ev sahibi olmayı arzulayıp şehri betonlaştıranlara öykünürdü. Aslında adaleti arardı. Kendisi ve diğer duygusal varlıklar için adil yaşam alanlarını... The “nature” of anywhere humankind deems a place, that is: basically everywhere on earth, should be considered in terms of complex socio-ecological systems. In complex socioecological systems, humans guard their position at the top of the food chain while expanding their niche (think about the stone queries excavated to build apartment buildings). As its population grows, human competition within its species and with other species outweighs intraspecies and inters

Taksim 360, located in the Tarlabaşı neighborhood of Istanbul, is one of the first state-led urban transformation projects in Turkey. Originally scheduled to be finished in 2014, the project is still under construction. Concordant with broader discussions, Tarlabaşı’s urban transformation has been largely studied through spatial lenses centered on accumulation by dispossession and displacement. These works assume that urban transformation projects necessarily follow a linear trajectory from inception to completion. Building on and diverging from this body of research, I examine the relationships between construction companies, subcontractors, and politicians involved in Taksim 360 through ethnographic fieldwork and media analysis with a critical emphasis on temporality. I argue that urban transformation in fact works through manipulations of time, which necessitates a temporal analytical lens that does not take teleologies of buildings projects for granted. It is specifically through delays that economic and political power is exerted, navigated, and negotiated within Taksim 360 using legal contracts, work stoppages, and stand-offs; conjuring of continued investment; and improvisations with labor and political capital. And so, delays emerge as modus operandi of urban transformation rather than measures of its failures or successes.

This report examines how caregivers meet the socio-spatial needs of their young children within their neighbourhood. Three daily living domains – public space, mobility in and around the neighbourhood, and quality of the built environment are examined. Empirical findings from selected disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Pune (India) and Istanbul (Turkey) highlight everyday spatial needs of caregivers and young children. By developing comparative work, the report points towards the affordances that space (particularly communal spaces) offers caregivers, and the need to better understand contextual and diverse spatial requirements. Within the two different geographies, we see the multifaceted nature and use of public spaces, issues concerning safety, use of spaces in front of the home, on the one hand, and on the other, we also see the marginalized position of caregivers and children in high-density urban areas. Though in both the locations, various activities/ initiatives are taking place to shed light on the needs of young children, the support for early urban childhoods through planning and design is far from optimal.

This paper describes textile production in Istanbul, Turkey. From its historical background to the challenges of today. The respondents have told about how they work, talked about competition, communication, achievements, investments and much more. The purpose was basically to find out how important the textile industry, with focus on apparel, is in the economy of Turkey today. Also how this industry can develop, and what it will take to reach such development. The empirical material comes from experienced people in the field and is analyzed with the SWOT model besides other marketing and logistics related theory. Used method is a qualitative approach with semi structural interviews. Companies and associations in Istanbul have responded. These contributors are a mix of senior managers, specialists, officials, employees and entrepreneurs. An interview guide was developed after a pre-study in Sweden. Findings of the study shows that these companies are competing for international customers, but also working together for their industry and country. Some important factors to become successful is experience, research, innovation and customer care. To take a step of further development, more strategy, competence and investments might be needed. There are many other countries which can also challenge about the customers in this business. China and Bangladesh do have similarities with the early development of Turkey in the case of textile garment industry, but are now considered different as competitors. Turkey do have some national advantages, and not least its beneficial geographical position.

This paper examines how green areas may be used as strategic recovery zones in the event of an earthquake and how these zones may strengthen the resilience for future quakes in Istanbul. The paper also refers to investigating why the planning system in Turkey can pose a threat for the provision of green areas. Green areas have proven to be an important feature in natural disaster stricken cities for coping with disasters by strengthening the city’s resilience. However due to rapid population growth and high demand for housing and infrastructure, green areas risk disappearing when the city expands. This problem is evident all major cities of turkey and particularly in the country’s largest city Istanbul, where green areas are benign exploited instead of preserved; leaving larger city’s such as Istanbul vulnerable for future earthquake disasters. The high demand for new housing and functioning infrastructure in conjunction with a complicated planning system in Turkey leads to a vaguely regulated planning system, which creates a threat to green areas. This creates an uncertain situation for the city's ability and resilience to withstand a future earthquake disaster. The study will be based on a qualitative method. The empirical material will be presented through a previous research overview and a case study, which is also based on previous research on the subject. Essay analysis will be performed based on a quantitative text analysis based on concepts; urban disaster resilience, green infrastructure, land use planning and governance, presented in the essays theoretical framework. The general conclusions of the study are that there is a lack of good governance in the planning system in Turkey, which creates restrictions for a sustainable and resilient urban planning in the city of Istanbul. Green areas are resilience and capacity building areas in the city to handle future earthquake disaster, by providing open recovery zones in a densely built city. It is therefore imp

Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) is a robust tool to systematically evaluate the effects of design decisions on spatial performance and to identify the relationship between the space and its users. Although there is a growing body of POE research on complex buildings, such as hospitals and education spaces, studies on the POE evaluation of public open spaces are limited. More importantly, few studies have investigated public squares designed at the periphery and how they are used. This study aims to identify the extent to which spatial configuration of public squares is related to users’ behavior (i.e., modes/distances of access, level of satisfaction). For this purpose, we focused on four peripheral urban squares located in Istanbul, Turkey. The methodology applied in the study includes a synthesis of three types of expertise: 1) behavioral mapping of urban squares (through the analysis of patterns of use based on direct observation), 2) cognitive evaluation of spaces based on perceived factors (through user questionnaires), and 3) quantifying urban public spaces objectively (through the methodology of space syntax and urban morphology). The results identify associations between objective characteristics of public spaces designed at the peripheral districts, patterns of use and users’ perception of these areas, to a certain extent. For example, the variety and intensity of activities within the square as well as the length of occupancy are highest for Avcılar square, which is most integrated within its urban surroundings with reduced average block size. An important finding is the association between the average street connectivity levels of these squares with their pedestrian catchment areas. In other words, the more integrated a public urban space is with its surroundings (800mt buffers), its users will access this space on foot from a larger distance. Based on these findings, spatial configuration as measured by space syntax measures appears to be an explanatory

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of housing price differences in Istanbul Metropolitan Area. Factors that affect house prices in Istanbul are investigated by Hedonic Regression Model with spatial variables. House Price taken in natural Log form as dependent variable and house characteristics, neighborhood characteristics and transportation infrastructure taken as independent variables. Location of houses on Europe continent has more impact on value than Asian part of the city. As the Istanbul city spread out new neighborhood areas are also developed with new characteristics. And those houses are sold according to amenities they surrounded by are spatially autocorrelated. House prices are examined in Istanbul by taking into consideration sub-market characteristics to identify localized factors. In the model distance to green areas, ports, proximity to metro stations, shopping malls, hospitals have positive but insignificant; proximity to earthquake fault lines, public bus transportation, industrial zones have negative and significant effect on prices.