The form of social life: seeing beyond informality in emergent design qualities, the case of Yüksel Street in Ankara

Abstract

ABSTRACT The general tendency of most socio-spatial research is to separate the theory of lived space from everyday realities. On the contrary, this article aims to connect urban design and everyday life sociology. It follows a spatial ethnography method with data collected during two-year fieldwork in Yüksel Street, a central public space in Ankara, Turkey. As such, the article contains three lines of discussion: locality, everyday life and spatiality. Locality identifies Turkish cities in a fashion that renders vague the formal/informal and the South/North divides. Everyday life refers to the social activities and their physical imprints. Spatiality helps identify these local spatial characteristics as emergent design values by users. Based on the results, the study discusses a new terminology beyond informality capable of studying urban streets as spaces accommodating spontaneity and diversity.