Location Choice Factors of Underground Performative Art Events in the City

Date

2026-4-13

Author

Tüzün, Ateş Baran

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Underground performance arts create the richness of the urban cultural characteristics, however the spatial factors that influence the development and location of underground performance arts remain an unexplored aspect of the broader discipline of urban and spatial studies. This research aims to explore the spatial factors that influence the location of underground performance arts venues in Ankara/Türkiye, and to shed some light on the decision-making process that guides the choice of location. This research adopts a qualitative approach, incorporating spatial analysis. Through a series of interviews with the event executers, the decision-making criteria for the choice of location are explored. These findings can then be compared systematically with the results of the spatial analysis, focusing on the relationship between the decision-making criteria and the spatial factors, such as the provision of accessibility infrastructure, the level of spatial integration, and the built environment. vi The results suggest that underground performance venues in Ankara do not occur randomly; rather, they are associated with distinct urban areas with a particular morphology characterized by low to moderate spatial integration, visibility, and separateness from primary commercial areas. At the same time, they exhibit selective accessibility through secondary street networks and proximity to compatible land uses such as mixed use and transitional industrial areas. Anonymity, acoustic tolerance, neighborhood sensitivity, and audience selectivity were consistently prioritized by the organizers over maximum exposure and centrality. The results show that underground performance venues occupy particular spatial locations that balance discretion with connectivity and disclose a particular relationship between subcultural practice and urban structure. By locating underground performance venues within the broader context of urban morphology and cultural geography, this study offers a spatially grounded understanding of alternative cultural production. It contributes to the field of urban studies by connecting informal cultural practices with analytical planning tools and proposes a framework for understanding the sustenance of alternative art scenes in the broader context of the physical and social structure of the contemporary city.

Subject Keywords

underground art, performative art, venues, events, location choice factors, urban fabric

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/119120

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Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis