Transformation of abandoned public spaces for healthy cities: Urban acupuncture approach

The concept of healthy city has emerged against the intense urbanization in the world. With this concept, the necessity to engage people in design and use of public spaces and to invest in accessibility of public spaces is emphasized in order to improve their health and well-being. Today, public spaces are faced with many problems such as privatization, abandonment, insecurity and extinction. However, public spaces offer many benefits for public life. They create a platform for essential, optional or social outdoor activities. They enable people to meet and socialize with a sense of place and symbolic meaning. They create arenas for collective action and discussion. Thus, they serve the functional, social, psychological and economic needs of the society and reflect the urban identity and memory. In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, has further emphasized the importance of public spaces for healthy cities and societies for today and future. For this reason, abondened public spaces should be revitalized to support public life. One of the strategies to transform public spaces is urban acupuncture inspired by Chinese medicine. According to the pioneers of urban acupuncture, large-scale projects are no longer needed to transform public space, smaller, less costly and rapid interventions are needed. In many cities, it is possible to get permanent and effective results in public spaces with less budget and more citizen participation. This thesis aims to define the basic principles of urban acupuncture and to develop urban acupuncture proposals to transform abondened public spaces in Turkey through examples. The methodology of the study is based on a literature review on urban acupuncture, an analysis of 10 international and 5 national urban acupuncture interventions, and online interviews with the designers of these projects and interview questions answered via e-mail. In conclusion, the thesis reveals that urban acupuncture can be utilized as an innovative and collaborative strategy to transform abondened public spaces in Turkey.