Landscape as a social structure in the evalutaion process of the cities: Beykoz case

In this study, it was aimed to investigate the social orientation of landscape in the environment of multiculturalism which is a result of contemporary modern world. For this reason, the social structure and landscape changes in the settlement areas were tried to be analyzed simultaneously and the parameters that should be analyzed in order to understand the landscape as a social structure were tried to be determined. Within these parameters, landscape is defined as a factor that provides the transition from the physical space to the social space and it is aimed to make contribution to the literature on giving the required admission to this social aspect of the landscape. Concluding the examination of the concepts of landscape and social life, it is decided that these two elements should be composed of three stages of the research because of the qualitative data which they contain. First, a literature survey was conducted in which a number of parameters were identified to describe the landscape as a social structure, defined by the interrelationship of the elements forming the landscape and social texture. Simultaneous and cross-reading methods were applied in this literature research supported by mind maps. As a result of the literature survey, basic parameters defining landscape as a social structure were determined as culture and collective memory. From these parameters, the culture is divided into three subparameters, namely abstract values, accessibility and space belonging, which are the factors that constitute the culture in the landscape scale. The greatest factors in the sense of belonging to individuals in society are their abstract values against the place and the freedom of physical and mental access to that place. In this context, space belongs to the most basic factors that constitute culture on the landscape scale. When the relation between landscape and social tissue is examined, the second main parameter is the collective memory. Collective memory is, in fact, one of the main factors that play a role in the formation of cultures, but it has been taken as a separate parameter because it affects the factors that make culture on the landscape scale and the landscape itself. The collective memory and landscape relation is divided into three parameters, namely landscape experience, landscape knowledge / awareness and environment / landscape sense through a deductive second literature survey. These three parameters are defined as the factors that constitute the landscape in the survey. The concepts of culture and collective memory, which form the landscape as a social structure, have been evaluated again in a cross and simultaneous manner in terms of abstract values, accessibility, space belonging, collective memory and landscape experiences, landscape knowledge / awareness and environment / landscape perception. In the second part of the thesis, a field study was carried out in order to measure the reliability of these determined parameters. The field study area was determined as a sharp transformation in a short period of time and it was determined that Beykoz district of Istanbul is still undergoing this transformation process. On-site observations and unstructured pilot interviews were conducted for the first time in fieldwork. As a result of this on-site observation and unstructured pilot interviews, the regions where the relation of social texture and landscape change in the region can be read clearly are determined as Gümüşsuyu and İncirköy Neighborhoods. It was decided to conduct a semi-structured interview with the persons identified in the field study due to the high qualitative data rate of the parameters examined in the first section. The purpose of selecting the semi-structured interview method is to read the changes in the views of these group representatives, who individually observe and experience the social texture and landscape change in the research area. The basic parameters that were determined when interview questions were prepared were selected in order to simultaneously examine the social texture and landscape change that constitute the landscape as a social structure and allow the reading through the transformation process. The questions asked during the interview were asked as objectively as possible and the opinions of the person interviewed were tried not to be directed. The results of the negotiations supported the theory and the parameters established in the first chapter. As a social structure, discourses describing landscape at the highest level were encountered while collective memory was being examined. In addition to these parameters, the political and economic discourse in the reshaping of the social texture and landscape relation in the transformation process of the region is also frequently encountered. As a result and the third step of the research, the determined parameters were deductively reevaluated by field study. Landscape and social structure are in an infinite loop, constantly interacting with each other. This cycle must be taken into account, especially in regions that are experiencing sharp changes in a short time. Landscaping as an element of multicultural metropolises providing a transition from the physical space to the social space during the change; it affects both social, cultural and economic structure and is affected by this structure. Seeing and analyzing the social dimension of landscaping is particularly important during the conversion work, which is especially intense in our country. If the changes planned in the landscape and / or social community of a region are made by first examining these parameters constituting the landscape as a social structure, it may be possible to produce more healthy lives for the communities using the region financially and morally.