1. Yürünebilirlik kavramı ve kentsel mekânlarda yürüme.
- Author
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Yazicioğlu Halu, Zeynep and Yürekli, Ferhan
- Subjects
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URBAN planning , *ARCHITECTURAL designs , *PUBLIC spaces , *SPACE (Architecture) , *EXTRAVEHICULAR activity (Human space flight) , *SOCIAL context , *SUSTAINABLE architecture - Abstract
With advancing communication technologies, the interaction of people and the environment they live in has taken on a new direction. Today, architecture, planning, designing and urban planning disciplines are all questioning the interactions of people with their surroundings and trying to come up with new approaches. These disciplines mutually develop more interconnected relations and their topics and items of interest are constantly positioned on more unstable grounds. Public spaces, which people position and realize themselves in, constitute the base of this study. In the spatial structure of our environment, the roads, alleys, streets, squares and court-yards that make up public spaces are important "representation" locations. Among these, streets are especially significant living environments because they are considered as "movement channels" and "socializing centers." For centuries, the "walking" process, whereby people experience being a resident of the city, has been of crucial importance as the most basic and simple means of transport. It can easily be stated that walking is the most direct and prejudice-free activity for people to position and realize themselves. In cities, urban spaces can be considered "successful" to the extent that they provide people the ability to walk and experience human-environment and human-human interaction. What is meant with "success" is the facilitation of a social environment. Public environments can achieve social and perceptive meaning according to how much they support walking. As an action enabling people to perceive their environment in relation to their walking speed and point of view, walking can be performed for various reasons and motives. People can walk in order to satisfy daily needs, health issues or social requirements. The urban spaces appealing to the different walking needs of people generally become centers of attraction and socializing. Thus, public spaces can be considered successful in accordance with their walkability. Walkability is the extent to which the built environment supports and encourages walking by providing for pedestrian comfort and safety, connecting people with varied destinations within a reasonable amount of time and effort, and offering visual interest in journeys throughout the network. Even though the concept of walkability didn't gain validity in our literature, in the present situation of our cities significant importance should be given to walkable urban environments. It is observed that new housing areas are disconnected from the city center so they have a lack of socializing by walking. A conceptual model is suggested in this study to question the walkability of urban public spaces. Studies have shown that individual, group, regional, and spatial environmental variables may all affect the decision of walking. Currently, however, it is not clearly understood which of these factors are most salient, nor is it clear how or whether these factors interact in affecting a person's level of physical activity. Many factors are believed to influence a per-son's level of physical activity, but in the model suggested, the perception of human being is influenced by four main factors. The conceptual model outlined here posits that individual, group, regional, and spatial environmental variables affect an individual's choice to walk at different points in his or her decision-making process and that some factors are more prominent in the decision-making process than others. Spatial environmental characteristics, being the main center point of this study, are examined in more detail. The decision process of walking is mainly shaped by the affordance of urban spaces' spatial environmental characteristics. These characteristics have been identified and suggested as walking needs in a hierarchy: Feasibility, Safety, Accessibility, Usefulness, Physical Comfort and Social Environment/Sociability. The Human-Environment-Behavioral Studies approach that this study is based on has been selected because of convenience for interdisciplinary questioning and studies. In this context, psychology, sociology, health, philosophy, engineering and social anthropology are all used as needed, in order to benefit from what they have to contribute. The environment that people live in and their thorough examination of the relationship they build with that environment, may be leading while developing new designs for the future. The theoretical model and the conceptual framework of this research are user-focused. The parameters that effect users' decisions to walk in urban spaces are determined with the conceptual framework drawn in this study. These parameters can be used when designing new urban spaces or when redesigning urban spaces in order to make them sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2011