İDEALKENT
Yazarlar: Sercan ÖZGENCİL YILDIRIM
Konular:Sosyal
Anahtar Kelimeler:City,Landmark,Urban space,Place,Public,Private
Özet: Istanbul, the capital of empires, has defined a political centre throughout history. The monuments constructed therein brought together the sacred, the power, the public and the urban space. The continuity that this intersection displays through the layers of history (Roman-Byzantine-Ottoman eras) is the most striking feature of the city. The selection of the sites on which the landmarks that dominate the city landscape and that serve as elements providing historical continuity stand was by no means made at random. The topography and in so far as the topography allowed, a geometry inspired by metaphysical concerns was decisive for the urban spatial structure. In this context, from the very beginning, there was a clear-cut distinction between private and public in the urban space. However, the balance that was once struck between these two, public life/space and private life/space, has shifted dramatically in favour of the latter. Public inevitably implies compromise and accordingly permeable boundaries. Likewise, the process of urbanisation, in particular the participation of the “outsiders”, the “others” in the city life entails the permeability of boundaries. It involves flexibility and even a redefinition of who the other is or what urban is. Although this process forces change, especially for the others, it is necessary and crucial for the transmission of urban culture. As for Istanbul, it should be observed that this process does not function as expected or as well as it should. Boundaries have become less and less permeable and actors more and more resistant to change, turning inward. People finding refuge in privacy and withdrawing to the private sphere remain distant from the urban life and its requirements. More importantly, keeping distance turns out to be possible. As a result, the grasped private space is being equipped, fortified on a continual basis and comes to be capable of seeing everyone, everything and of being seen by everybody from everywhere. Our common world, the public space is getting smaller, weaker and poorer; whereas the private one is growing without limit, being “enriched” and becoming more demanding and audacious. Enormous residence buildings are candidate for being the new landmarks of the city. The dominant features of the city image are no longer the sacred monuments crowning the hills of New Rome-Constantinople-Konstantiniyye-Istanbul, structured as a seven-hilled city since the pagan times.