Everyday life practices and the reproduction of space: Moda Family Tea Garden

In this study, alongside the pre-defined and established physical boundaries of the space, the potential of creating a dynamic, and flexible space through the individual's everyday life practices was measured through tea gardens. The topic of the thesis is shaped by examining creation a space of the everyday life practice and its transformation into the everyday life experience of individuals living within the city though the potential of creating their own space via the selected tea garden. The theoretical framework of the thesis is based on two main structures. The section on everyday life, which forms the first base is focused on understanding the practices and spatial dimensions of everyday life by exploring the themes shaped by the everyday life theory of Lefebvre and De Certeau. The second theoretical framework is based on the studies of five urban sociologists on the notion of public space. These two bases form the theoretical framework of the study and provide guiding criteria for the analysis of the field research. To analyze the spatial practices in daily life in the Moda Family Tea Garden, the spatial practices of individuals were explored by creating a framework based on the criteria of coexistence-relationship, production, equalizer, living-transitive-dynamic, experience, which were reached through the analysis of theoretical readings. The reason for selecting tea gardens, where the practice of tea drinking turns into an everyday life experience, as a field site for research is that it is a perfect example for examining the complex relationship between space and society though spatial practices. It is also a place that has a connection to its cultural and societal roots in Turkish culture, both historically and presently. Within the scope of the study, it has been decided to keep the limits of the field research specific to the Moda Family Tea Garden, located in Kadıköy district of İstanbul. This decision has been influenced by urban and societal structure of İstanbul, as well as the fact that the Moda district and Moda Family Tea Garden have a deep historical background and still preserve their natural structure. Within the framework of the field study, the observation technique and visual spatial analyses have been conducted for the space and its users. The physical properties of the space and the analyses of spatial practices have been tried to be explained with the diagrams created through observations, drawings, and photographs made in the tea garden. As a result of the study, it has been discovered that the criteria of coexistence-relationship, production, equalizer, living-transitive-dynamic, experience have an important impact on the re-production of the space. In this context, the interaction between the space and the human body enables the space for the reproduction of itself though everyday life practices.