Measuring the publicness of urban environment by means of fuzzy logic modeling

This thesis draws upon a model of the publicness of publicly owned and managed spaces by means of fuzzy logic modeling. The value of this approach is that it is practical in simplifying and emphasizing both the interdependent nature of the concept of publicness and its complexity. The proposed model aims to effectively evaluate and compare the publicness of public space. The thesis highlights different methodologies in understanding the publicness by considering various conceptual approaches at the heart of the debate about public space. In doing so, the thesis is organized into nine main parts. The first part gives a brief introduction about the aim, and the scope of the research. The second part discusses the fundamental notions namely public, public space, public realm, public sphere and publicness. It also discusses the dimensios of publicness mostly mentioned in previous research body. The third part explains the complexity, complexity theories of cities and fuzzy logic in analysing complex issues. By deeply discussing the literature, the thesis aims to clarify and develop its unique approach to publicness. The following part explains the proposed model of publicness based on management, access and user dimensions, by analyzing the leading discourse and previous models of publicness. The fifth part draws upon the methodological approach, case study selection and naturalistic observations, land use analysis, space syntax analysis and the other tools for the research. The sixth part presents the case study findings from twenty public spaces in Istanbul. It also presents the results of observations and interviews with users. The following part tries to analyse the correlations among the variables including publicness, urban layout, management, access and users dimensions. It reveals the relationships between different layers of urban public space and how the variables affect the other. The last two parts draw upon research findings and conclusions.