The role of open public spaces in structuring society, Büyükdere-Levent-Maslak axis

ABSTRACTCities are places where societies and individuals come together and socialize. Especiallyopen public spaces, which played a fundamental role in the establishment of cities, areplaces for gathering for people from every cultural and social class, different ethnicorigins and diverse characteristics. In this public space, individuals, leaving their privatesphere, find the opportunity to experience new and various ideas.In the conceptual content of this study that analyses the role of architecture and urbanspace in structuring social relationships, meaning, culture, public space, architecturalenvironment concepts -the integrational and interactional aspect of urban space-, and howdifferent science fields evaluate public, meaning and space relationships will bediscussed. In the third chapter, within the frame work of human environmentrelationships, culture, city, environmental psychology, bahaviour, perception, meaningconcepts will be analyzed. Defining the social relationships in the urban phenomenon,role of different types of spatial forms and social structure in spatial conformation andtheir interaction with each other will be the focus of the fourth chapter.With this respect, Büyükdere - Maslak zone, which is an important development axis butat the same time a very problematic area in terms of planning principlesand its atmosphere created by social and environmental aspects, has been chosen as thetarget area. In a rapidly growing city like Istanbul, with unplanned development andunplanned housing, open public spaces began losing their importance, their physicalstructures are exposed to deterioration and their public character and quality arediminished. This study tries to understand how users react in response to this Maslakaxis, by examining patterns of behavior and their possible relations to the perceptual andassociational aspects of the urban environment .This study aims to analyze the behavior patterns and their possible relationships with thecontinuous and integrating aspects of the urban environment and try to understand howthe users are being effected by that situation on the Maslak axis. Besides, it is also aimedto revitalize the open urban spaces and to redefine their importance in the changingconditions of urban life.Keywords: Public Spaces, Open Public Spaces, Individual - Society Relationship,Levent Maslak Area, Behavioral and Cognitive Mapping Technics.