Evaluation Of Concepts Of Space And Urban Space In Urban Environment And Space Of Bosphorus

Tez (Yüksek Lisans) -- İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, 1996Thesis (M.Sc.) -- İstanbul Technical University, Institute of Science and Technology, 1996Bu tezde kentsel mekan kavramı, öncelikle bir varoluş mekanı oluşturması bağlamında tanımlanarak, fiziksel ve kültürel çevre ile etkileşimleri, değişik kültürlerde biçimleniş özellikleri ile ele alınmıştır, örnekleme bölümünde ise, özel bir fiziksel ve görsel çevre olan Boğaziçi ve onu bu denli özel bir mekan haline getiren fiziksel ve kültürel elemanları üzerinde insan yapısı oluşumların etki ve sonuçlan incelenmeye çalışılmıştır. Birinci bölümde, tez konusunun önemi üzerinde durularak, neden bu konunun seçildiği, amaçlanan düşünceler ve araştırmanın çerçevesi ortaya konmuştur. Bu bağlamda izlenecek yol ve tezde yer alacak bölümler hakkında bilgi verilmiştir. İkinci bölümde, kentsel mekan tanımı mekanın tanımından geliştirilerek yapılmış, özellikleri ve yer niteliği kazanmaları, bir varoluş mekanı olarak ortaya konmuştur. Bu mekanların insan yaşantısındaki yeri ve önemi vurgulandıktan sonra, kentsel mekan elemanlarından sokak ve meydanlar özellikleri ve gelişimleri ile ele alınıp, farklı kültürlerdeki biçimleniş özellikleri ortaya konmuştur. Üçüncü bölümde, çevre fiziksel ve kültürel bir bütün olarak kabul edilerek, kentsel mekanlann bu zengin örüntüde oynadığı rol ele alınmıştır. Fiziksel ve kültürel çevre tanımı, yapısı ve bileşenleri üzerinde durularak, çevrenin özel bir yer oluşturması irdelenmiştir. Kültür sisteminin tanımı yapılarak, kültür, davranış ve mekan etkileşimi irdelenmeye çalışılmıştır. Dördüncü bölümde, kent ve mekanlann oluşumu ve gelişimi için Boğaziçi örnek bölge seçilmiş, ikinci ve üçüncü bölümde anlatılan kavramlar yardımıyla değerlendirilmeye çalışılmıştır. Beşinci bölüm ise bu tez çalışmasının sonucunu içermektedir.in this thesis "the urban space concept" is defined as the fallowing; principally connected to the existential space, its interaction with physical and culture! environment and its features in the different cultures. In the sampling chapter, it is examined the Bosphorus which is the private physical and visual environment and its physical and culturel principles' the effects and the results on man-made formations. The first chapter emphasizes on the significance and the importance of the research area, the purpose and the method of this study. In the second chapter, general space definitions are explained within a framework that covers its abstract and concrete properties. Space is the idea which man forms and develops as the result of his sence perceptions, that there exist "things" other than himself and that his own body consists of "parts" and that these bear an orderly relationship to one another which he describes in terms of positions in space and distance from one another. Architectural theorists dealing with space have developed various space concepts. Norberg-Schulz classifies space concept at five levels: -The pragmatic space of physical action, -The perceptual space of immediate orientation, -The existential space which forms man's stable image of his environment, -The cognitive space of the physical world, -The abstract space of pure logical relations, xi Heidegger is the first who maintains that existence is spatial: "you cannot divorce man and space". Space is neither an external object nor an internal experience. Creating architectural space means integrating an intended form of life in the place. A place is a qualitative "total" phenomenon which we cannot reduce to any properties. Man's relation to places and through places to spaces consist in dwelling. Dwelling is the essential property of existence. Existential space is a relatively stable system of perceptual schemata or "image" of the environment. The field of existential space is represented by a corresponding architectural field. Norberg-Schulz analyzes the existential space on several levels as the thing, the furniture, the house, the urban level, the landscape level and the geographical level. These levels are determined by the given environment as well as by by man's constitution. The levels of existential space form a structured totality which corresponds to the structure of existence. In things everything is focused, in nature everything is contained. And in between there is man's dwelling. The direct relationship between form and space makes it necessary to understand the concept of space / urban space more profoundly in order to form a basis for urban spatial formation. Amongst the various types of spaces, existential space, urban space has been considered the most important one, as relevant to a phenomenological understanding of place. Therefore, it has been suggested that socialization has to be accompanied by development of existential space to have a meaning. What meaning the term urban space holds within the urban structure needs to be clarified to examine whether the concept of urban space retains some validity in comtemporary town planning and on what basis. Analyses showed that characteristics of succesful urban spaces can be grouped in three components: three-dimensional frame, two-dimensional frame and contained elements. Since this study aims at formation of urban spatial patterns, emphasis XII will be given to the three dimensional frame. In that sence urban spaces have to posses two main properties: first, they have to be enclosed in the sence of being interiors. Second, the size of the urban space has to be related to the actions which will take place. The last part of this chapter, the elements of urban space (street and square) are analyzed with properties and developments. These elements are reviewed within different cultures, with put into a form properties. Streets and squares are the most important elements of urban space. Streetsare not only useful for transportation but they also serve as "places" where people get together. Their most important characteristics is continuity. They help people to orientate, to move from one place to another. The translation of the word squarein Turkish is "meydan" that means vast, large, open area. Usually open places differ from culture to culture and as a result they all have different names such as square, piazza, court, place, circus... The most important and comman characteristics of places in enclosure that provides the place to be defined. Streets' intersection forms nodes most of the time, but they do not always form a place. In the third chapter, the concept of the environment its components and some certain properties of the environment are analyzed. This chapter contains the concept of physical and cultural environment and the classification of their components. The environment is defined as all the conditions, circumstances and influences surrounding, affecting the development of an organism or group of organisms. According to this definition, the environment of the man (community) is the physical environment. The relations between man and environment, causes some changes in physical environment and this changed environment is called "cultural environment". Cultural environment can be defined as the physical effects developed while man's using nature. It's a man- made place which visualises, complements and symbolizes man's understanding of his environment. xiif The expanse of the environment makes impossible to be identified as a whole. It is needed to break the environment systematically down into the detailed set of meaningful concepts which represent environmental conditions. The Existic Grid is a systematic exposition of the relationship between aspects of physical environment and other relevant factors. The horizontal axis of the Ekistic Grid refers to the scale of the environment, from the measure of man alone, through dwellings and neighborhoods, up to ecumenopolis of 30 million people. The vertical axis consists of types of elements making up nature, man, society, sheels and networks. It is possible to identify all the environmental scales and elements with the help of the Ekistic Grid, but there are times when it is sufficient to know only the significant scale and elements of an environment that are so central to the full picture that a change in them would mean that the whole scene would have different implications. The second part of this chapter, culture and culture-man and environment relations are argued. A culture is made up, factually of activities of human being: it's a system of interlocking and intersecting actions, a continuous functional pattern. It is intangible and invisible. It has physical ingredents- artefacts; also physical symptoms-the ethnic effectsthat are stamped on the human face, known as it expression, and the influence of social conditions on the development, posture and movement of the human body. But all such items are fragments that give the meaning to the total pattern of life only to those who are aquainted with it and may be reminded of it. They are ingredients in a culture, not its image. As the main function of culture is to produce patterns, the formal characteristics of the environment constitutes the essence of the relationship of the culture with the environment. Traditions which are carried through centuries by the culture have abligatory influences on design, and on architecture. XIV Symbol imply something more than the plain meaning. Symbols of architecture are formed by religion and traditions;and architecture uses forms and materials as symbols. In this chapter axial organizations - streets are reviewed within different cultures. Man-made places are related to the nature in same basic ways: man wants to make the naturel structure more precise. That is, he wants to visualize his "understanding of nature by expressing" the existential foothold he has gained. In the fourth chapter, "Boğaziçi" is choosen as a case study of this thesis. This chapter is a practise under the acceptions of the second and third chapters. With those acceptionsthe changes of the in the cultural system of the environment, and the effects and the results of practical problems of the social system are defined as the damaging causes of the physical, ecological and visual problems of Bosphorus, and analyzed with certain examples. All great cultures have created cultural environments by utilizing or incorporating natural elements. The history of the pre-industrial Bosphorus presents the development of a spontaneus landscape which appropriates the nature of the landscape. Boğaziçi is one of the most important space which taking a fundamental role in the formation of Istanbul: it is one of the basic element creating genius loci of the city. It was tha ancient Greeks who had relations with the Bosphorus first. In the Byzantion period it was the city of Byzantion which was mainly populated. People who did not have any relations with the city of Byzantion, built some villages along the shore of the Bosphorus. In the Ottoman Period, the Bosphorus was used more efectively because of the stable situation of the Ottoman Empire. The natural environment and its architectural character were integrated so well that, it had reached its heighest level and at the some time "Bosphorus Culture" was developed. In this period, the Bosphorus was mainly used for two purposes: Because of its fertile valleys and mild climate the shores of the Bosphorus was used for agriculture. Fishing also was an important activity. As a result of this there xv were small settlements on the shores and few in the inner parts of the Bosphorus. These villages had a spontenous development which ended with irregular road forms and open spaces. The main open space which took place near the waterway housed a ferry station, a masque, church, synagogue -depending on the structure of the population-, a fountain, a boat shelter for fisherman and houses with shops on their ground floor. The plane-tree was an important feature of the open spaces. To encourage the people to live on the Bosphorus the transportation of building construction materials were free from charge on ferries. Until the 20th century the ferry was the only public transportation system. A road which passed from the shoreline and linked the villages was constructed in the 20th century. The second purpose was recreation, apart from villages there were houses, palaces placed on the banks of the Bosphorus which belonged to the Sultans or the officials of the palace. The great heritage left over to the Republican Era is the Bosphorus as a synthesis of nature, history and culture. But this culturel heritage - consciously or unconsciously- hasn't been well conserved. Also the industrialization in the Republican Era, rapid urbanization, rapid increase in the population and unplanned settlements formed as a result of these, had negatively effected the Bosphorus area. The two suspension bridges, related motorways and new coast-roads aiming to relax the traffi; caused unaimed progresses in the Bosphorus. In short, the unwilling population in Bosphorus area had been formed by the combination of accessibility factor, wrong planning decisions and politic factors. And as a result of these the landscape of Bosphorus was hardly demolished and natural equilibrium has been destroyed. If we look at the situation of the Bosphorus today, we can see that there is a very unplanned development. After the planning activities since 1970's the visual environment changes day by day. The main problem of the Bosphorus is that there was not a sufficient and effective master plan and related measures which was and can be applied for a certain xvi (long enough) time period to see its results and evaluate it. The ever changing decisions gave way to different applications on the sites. In 1971 there was a plan and certain measures which came in force. According to this plan there were big areas on the Bosphorus where it was allowed to built, when ground floors are considered up to 15 percent of the plot area and threee storeys. (9,50m.) (This was named as settlement in green) In 1973,74,75 new measures were taken in relation the 1971 plan. In 1977 there was a new plan made which was revised in 1978 and applied for one year. In 1982 this plan was revised again and put in force. With this plan there was a permission to build only one building with a standard measurement on each plot. The area of the plot was not important (300 or 30.000sqm). In 1983 there was a new law which was put in force to conserve the Bosphorus. With this law all kinds of construction was prohibited on the Bosphorus. In 1985 a new law was passed and with this law it was allowed to build -when ground floors were considered -up to 6 percent of the plot area. This permission was only valid for plots bigger than 5000sqm. And two storeyed buildings were permitted. This permission continued until 1987. Now again it is not possible to build on the Bosphorus. We thing that prohibiting the construction on the Bosphorus is not a solution for its conservation. The Bosphorus is a very big piece of land and it is not possible to conserve and develop it without using it. When permissions are not given than it is the illegal construction process which speeds up. It is announced by the municipality that there are about 18.000 buildings which were illegally built in 1989. The solution isto give permission but know the consequences of it and do not let illegal construction to go on. The current change in population and preferences of the actuel cultural systems, deeply efects the social organizations of the Bosphorus' and all the systems related to the Bosphorus. The fifth chapter consists of the results of the this study.Yüksek LisansM.Sc