Rethinking Urban Design Problems through Morphological Regions: Case of Beyazıt Square

Abstract

Rethinking Urban Design Problems through Morphological Regions Ezgi Küçük¹, Ayşe Sema Kubat² ¹Urban Planning Coordinator, Marmara Municipalities Union ²Prof., Dr., Istanbul Technical Univercity, Faculty of Architecture, Department of City and Regional Planning E-mail: ezgikucuk89@gmail.com, kubat@itu.edu.tr Keywords: the Historical Peninsula, morphological regions, urban blocks, urban design, Beyazıt Square Conference topics and scale: Urban form and social use of space The concept of urban square is a debated issue in the context of urban design practices in Islamic cities. Recognizing the relation between urban morphology and urban design studies in city planning and urban design practices is highly vital. Beyazıt Square, which is the center of the city of Istanbul, could not be integrated to the other parts of the city either configurationally or socially although many design projects have been previously planned and discussed. In this study, the Historical Peninsula of Istanbul is observed as an essential unit of the traditional path reflecting each civilization, namely Roman, Byzantium, Ottoman and Republic of Turkey that have been settled in the region. Transformations in urban blocks in Beyazıt region are elaborated through a series of morphological analyses based on the Conzenian approach of urban morphology. Morphological regions of the Historical Peninsula are identified and Beyazıt region is addressed in detail in terms of the transformations in urban block components, that are; street, plot and buildings. The effects of surrounding units which are the mosque, university buildings, booksellers and Grandbazaar on Beyazıt Square are discussed according to the morphological analyses that are applied to the region. Previous design practices and the existing plan of the area are observed through the analyses including town plan, building block, and land use and ownership patterns. It is revealed that existing design problems in Beyazıt Square come from the absence of urban morphological analyses in all planning and design practices. Through morphological regions as well as the conservation plans, urban design projects can be reconsidered. References Baş, Y. (2010) ‘Production of Urbanism as the Reproduction of Property Relations: Morphologenesis of Yenişehir-Ankara’, PhD thesis, Middle East Technical University. Barret, H.J. (1996) ‘Townscape changes and local planning management in city conservation areas: the example of Birmingham and Bristol’, PhD thesis, University of Birmingham. Bienstman, H. (2007) ‘Morphological Concepts and Landscape Management: The Cases of Alkmaar and Bromsgrove’, PhD thesis, University of Birmingham. Conzen, M.R.G. (1960) Alnwick Northumberland: a study in town-plan analysis, Institute of British Geographers, London. Conzen, M.R.G. (2004) Thinking About Urban Form: papers on urban morphology 1932-1998, Peter Lang, Bern. Çelik, Z. (1993) The Remaking of Istanbul: Portrait of an Ottoman City in the Nineteenth Century, University of California Press, Berkeley. Günay, B. (1999) Property Relations and Urban Space, METU Faculty of Architecture Press, Ankara. Kubat, A.S. (1999) ‘The morphological history of Istanbul’, Urban Morphology 3.1, 28-41. Noziet, H. (2008) ‘Fabrique urbaine: a new concept in urban history and morphology’, Urban Morphology, 13.1, 55-56. Panerai, P., Castex, J., Depaule, J. C. and Samuels, I. (2004) Urban Forms: The Death and Life of the Urban Block, Architectural Press, Oxford. Tekeli, İ. (2010) Türkiye’nin Kent Planlama ve Kent Araştırmaları Tarihi Yazıları, (Articles of Turkey’s History of Urban Planning and Urban Studies), Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınları, Istanbul. Whitehand, J.W.R. (2001) ‘British urban morphology: the Conzenian tradition’, Urban Morphology 5.2, 3-10. Whitehand, J.W.R. (2009) ‘The structure of urban landscapes: strengthening research and practice’, Urban Morphology 13.1, 5-22.