Understanding Samsun Fair in the context of memory-space interaction

Samsun Fair, with its spatial practices, played a role in the development of social and cultural life as well as commercial life and gained an important place in the collective memory of the city. However, the social developments experienced in the process caused the city of Samsun to transform both physically and publicly, as in all other cities in the world. The acceptance of space as a social production object connected with social relations networks leads us to question the values and experiences produced by the urban memory. This study aims to understand the transformation of Samsun Fair, which was the largest public space not only in Samsun but also in the Black Sea Region, and the variables that were effective in this transformation, through the relationship between space and memory. For this purpose, the thesis is a study that evaluates the Samsun Fair with the data obtained from the conceptual analysis based on the relationship between space and memory and the urban experience. In the study, it is aimed to reveal the urban and urban memory variables through 'reading based on urban sociology' and 'interview technique'. The effect of changing economic, political and socio-cultural developments on daily life and accordingly on the production of space has been revealed through the fair. As a result of the study, it was revealed that social dynamics also changed the public use and accordingly affected the social values that feed the urban memory. It has been seen that there is destruction and continuity in the collective memory due to the separation of this place from the city, and it has been revealed that a new memory layer cannot be built for this place due to the changing spatial practices over time.