The Catalysing Role of Interfaces, in the Ongoing Creation of Space at Different Urban Scales

2024-2-12
Atak Akbulut, Hazal
The pursuit of rigid order and control in urban planning has led to the fragmentation of urban areas and the deterioration of the interrelation among system components that interact in an integrated way. By prioritizing piecemeal interventions, zoning practices and legislation, relationships between constituting parts of the city are rigorously segregated. The erosion of cohesion among the constituent elements of an urban environment leads to the loss of meaning for these individual components and their collective existence. The city also has become detached from its meanings and semantic context which is resulted in reduction of people's spheres of influence in urban spaces. Consistent with this framework, this study approaches transition zones/interfaces as a potential source of creative opportunities to stimulate relationships between constituting parts of the city and maintaining meaningfull unity of the urban pattern. Interfaces stimulate creative relationships between urban elements, which in turn trigger the emergence of new socio-spatial processes and complex system dynamics. Elaborative analysis of this study, uncover the complex relationalities of physical, affective, social structural and behavioral aspects of interfaces. Interface researches in the study reveal the way in which these different aspects evolve in relation to one another, their emergence, and their synchronized movement, hence the inherent dynamism of interfaces. The study's findings reveal the way of establishment of an integrated relationship among various parts of the urban area. The results additionally indicate that interface characteristics have a significant impact on enhancing the interactive relationship between individuals and the urban environment. Qualified interfaces facilitate fluidity and strong connections between disparate places. These interfaces not only foster interactive relationships between individuals and their surroundings, but also enhance and broaden the interaction among individuals within urban environments. In this way, they play a role in the development of the social pattern, leading to the establishment of a self-organizing structure. These achievements constitute a stage in the conservation of the dynamic structures of urban areas, in the reestablishment of the spheres of influence that individuals lost within the city, and in the recovery of the semantic content that will enrich urban life.
Citation Formats
H. Atak Akbulut, “The Catalysing Role of Interfaces, in the Ongoing Creation of Space at Different Urban Scales,” Ph.D. - Doctoral Program, Middle East Technical University, 2024.