Journal of Urban Research and Development

CyNUM 2nd Regional Conference: ‘Transformation and Conservation of Urban Form in South-Eastern Mediterranean Cities’

2023-11-03

We have reserved this issue of our journal for a specific conference on urban morphology.

The Cyprus Network for Urban Morphology (CyNUM) - one of the regional networks of the International Seminar on Urban Form (ISUF) - hosted its second regional conference in Famagusta, in Northern Cyprus, on 7th- 9th April 2022, as a virtual event, with the central theme of ‘Transformation and Conservation of Urban Form in South-Eastern Mediterranean Cities’.

The conference aimed to address current issues related to urban form from an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary perspective, focusing on “transformation” and “conservation” while engaging various actors and stakeholders.

Praxis of urban peacebuilding in Famagusta Cyprus

Ceren Bogac — 2023-10-30

Urban design and development have experienced significant changes, shifting away from traditional top-down decision-making methods. This shift has emphasized the importance of community engagement and participatory design, particularly in contested cities. Famagusta, a city affected by the ongoing division in Cyprus, highlights the urgent need for innovative approaches to rebuild and reconcile communities. Varosha, the city's former tourist resort, has been inaccessible to the public since the island's division in 1974 due to military restrictions. This study focuses on the Famagusta Ecocity Project, a case study for sustainable and inclusive urban development that aims to foster peace and harmony in a post-conflict setting. The study examines the project's 10-year journey towards urban peacebuilding and highlights key insights from the process. The findings reveal that an ecocity presents a transformative solution, offering a comprehensive approach to establishing a resilient "peace infrastructure" in a contested city.

A Morphological Analysis of the Urban Interface-Sculpture Relationship

Gürkan Okumuş — 2023-10-30

Public spaces are the areas where social, cultural, and political changes are seen strikingly. These areas mostly are the focal points of the city center in continuous change-transformation processes. Because these areas are open to the access of each component of the society without any discrimination, where there is a common and participatory sharing and where daily life is continually experienced. Sculptures, which play a decisive role in defining and forming the identity of such areas, are the essential symbol elements that continually re-shape public spaces. In this framework, it is necessary to analyze the areas and their environment of the components that make up the public spaces, and how the space changes these components formally over time.

The modernism approach in Turkey has been adopted as an ideology in line to establish a nation-state. Within the framework of this ideological perspective, the modernization project was carried out through this nation- state politics. One of the main purposes of this approach was to create the image and perception of the ‘modern city’. In this regard, it is planned that a state-based view in which national regime ideals are represented will become visible in city centers. The way of seeking for public spaces developed with modern urban planning defines an area where the Atatürk statue is focal and representative point. The statue of Atatürk is the main determining and affecting factor on the public space in the process of constructing a new memory.

In this direction, the study consists of examining the Government Square, which has been used as the administrative center until today, by revealing the reflection of the public space model of "boulevard-square- government buildings " created in all cities within the content of the modernization project, with the spatial analysis method proposed formally. The area, which was created with the idea of creating a square within the content of the reconstruction works in 1945, consists of the Government House, the Central Bank, the Courthouse and the Atatürk Statue.

The study primarily aims to understand the current spatial situation of Eskişehir Governmental Square. Then, for this purpose, the Atatürk statue and all other spatial components in the public space are analyzed. The morphological analysis and its assessment method of this study are based on the criteria that emerged as a result of readings about public space and its spatial components. These criteria are as follows: morphological features and character of public space, characteristics of the components forming the public space, functional features of the public space, and its reflections, the user-sculpture, public space-sculpture, and sculpture-architectural landscape relations. These analyzes were interpreted and evaluated within the framework of different approaches developing conceptual background. As a result, various concluding remarks are presented related with selected case study.

Fortifications of Enez (Ainos) and Urban Morphology

Hasan Sercan Sağlam — 2023-10-30

The ancient city of Ainos in Enez, modern Turkey, was a fortified settlement starting from Classical Antiquity. It kept this characteristic also during the Middle Ages. In this context, its present castle that dominates the site is undoubtedly the most prominent monument today. Moreover, recent studies argued the underground discovery of Hellenistic city walls, which once surrounded the triangular peninsula of Ainos before the Aegean Sea. However, since certain deficiencies are noticed in the literature, this paper critically reconsiders the architectural, historical and epigraphic evidence for the Late Medieval urban morphology of Ainos in comparison to its fortifications and also the topography, as fundamental delimiting elements. The outcomes suggest that a triangular fortification system existed until the late 13th century, which was most probably formed during refortification of a significant urban center of the Thrace region in Late Antiquity, and was eventually replaced by the Castle of Enez.

The Analysis of the Morphological Transformation of a Public Node

Beliz Büşra Şahin — 2023-10-30

Significant urban modernization developments took place in the city of Adana in the early Republican years of Turkey. Hermann Jansen, who had a crucial contribution to the urbanization development of Turkey, conducted planning studies between 1935 and 1940 in Adana. Although his development plans weren’t implemented substantially, built areas within his plan remain as the most favorite areas in the city. Ataturk Park as one of the first implementations in the city center within the plan was designed as a green area in the newly-built environment. The Park has become a public node with its physical features and monumental structures and survived for almost 80 years by transforming. The purpose of the study is to document the morphological transformation of Ataturk Park and evaluate the effects of the transformation process in the modernization of the city. While the morphological transformation process of Ataturk Park gives significant clues about urban development process of the city, the findings of the study also revealed that focusing on an urban park as an urban element as a potential approach for urban morphology studies is beneficial in terms of evaluating relatively small areas since their imaginary values consist of a significant potential for obtaining crucial information about the development processes of cities.

Nicosia and Its Division

Corrado Scudellaro — 2023-10-30

The city of Nicosia, the last divided capital in the world, is a crucial case study to understand how a division influences a city pattern and character. The aim of this paper is to catch the perceptive feelings, in stressing the symbolic element of the division and the Buffer Zone; to interrogate and assess conservation issues and symbolical values of this area of the city; to recognise the division as a generator of character in the city recognisability; to investigates how a particular space, the one of a divided city, can influence the local population’s perception and behaviour in the urban space.

Asking what the division bring, or which social and spatial phenomena occurred in Nicosia from the division, spatial behaviour of the local population will be assessed through direct interviews with local population, local stakeholders, and on-site studies. Investigating the perception of the division and the image of the city, it emerges how the Buffer Zone and the division is rooted in the mind of the interviewed as a place for memory, or better, as a generator of the psychological structure of self-identification in the city, as such, as a generator of the city character.

Thus, the city of Nicosia is seen as a palimpsest, representing a potentially endless circle with continuous and constant modification, either in an additional way – superimposition, extension - or in a subtractive way – demolition, removal, or dismantling. This subtraction can be intentional, but it can also be disruptive and unplanned. The division of Nicosia brought an extra element to the city and modified its character ex-post, meaning that the event’s modifications – i.e., the division - assumes a memorial, historical and symbolical value, in function of the perturbation, thus shaping how the city is now perceived and giving the division a character- generator role.

Sustainable Urban Transitions Research, Policy and Practice (Book Review)

Kasra Talebian — 2023-10-30

Book Title: Sustainable Urban Transitions Research, Policy and Practice

Author’s (Editors) Name: Zaheer Allam

Publisher’s Name: Springer Singapore; 1st edition, 20 July 2023

Reviewer’s Name: Kasra Talebian

ISBN Number: 978-981-99-2694-7

Number of Pages: XI, 432