Evaluation of Izmir in the context of UNESCO creative cities network city of design criteria

Is it really possible to design cities with various future targets defined in the management meetings? Do approaches to the creative city that put design at the foundation of urban development achieve this goal by transforming the city into a designed place or through attracting people with design skills? How could a city self-analyze and invent a self-critical point of view when it comes to redefine its own future? Could city branding strategies be used by cities as a method to get to know themselves? Do these approaches make cities more liveable places? These questions on designing everyday life of cities with management strategies based on cities' potentials are the main questions of the thesis. This study evaluates the goal defined by Izmir Metropolitan Municipality in 2009 to make İzmir a city of design, by using the UNESCO Creative Cities Network city of design criteria, focusing on the years between 2009 and 2016. In the conceptual framework of the study, the critical literature with different approaches in the context of creative cities is shared. The condition of the fields of design in Izmir is assessed by the opinions of the stakeholders in the current design environment, with the quantitative and qualitative data in the documents obtained and the processes developed by the local government to become a city of design. The design environment of Izmir is compared in the global scale with the cities that have already taken the city of design title of UNESCO Creative Cities Network. The unique content of the thesis is that it provides a proposal of a method to change the results obtained by the literature research, the UNESCO Creative Cities Network city of design criteria and the design cities' characteristics together with the design environment of Izmir. The effects of the applied method are examined with a survey and observations. By using these data, this study states what should be done in Izmir in order to develop the city in accordance with the context of creative cities, and comes up with suggestions in this regard. In the first chapter, the introduction sets the critical framework of the thesis. The process that lead the city of Izmir to define the vision of becoming a city of design is described. Although the Metropolitan Municipality of Izmir claims to have a social democratic character, here is shown that the representation of this vision, which stated to have design as the main domain, the Mediterranean region as the targeted market and governance as the management method, is directly related to global city branding methods and neo-liberal approaches. Even though the handicaps of translating corporate branding ideas into the city scale are known by examples, current widespread trend of using them in the city governance is discussed, and this frame is taken as the basis of the thesis followed by aim, content and method description of the research. In the second chapter, the term "city branding" is discussed through relevant literature. A holistic approach to the city branding is explained. Constant inspection, strong and consistent leadership are defined as the essentials of city branding. The documents of Turkish State that promotes city branding are shared and national manner to the topic is discussed. Terms like creative economy, creative city, and design city are mentioned to understand the approaches of city branding within the creative economies. Descriptions of creative economies are presented and the scale of creative economies in global and national economy is shown. Different definitions of creative cities are shared and their nuances are discussed. The necessity of inventing creative infrastructures and networks in between creatives, public, private and third sector in order to shape a city into a creative city is mentioned. The role of existing personal and professional, local and global networks in the city on creative people's decisions to move into a city is explained. In this context, the evaluation systems that give the title "city of design" by creating global networks are listed. In between these systems, it is mentioned that only UNESCO Creative Cities Network city of design title connects various creative fields and stakeholders of the cities in the global scale with cities that have different social, cultural, and economic values, and creates long term interaction gateways. The third chapter's main subject is Izmir, which wants to position itself as a city of design. The city branding journey of Izmir is elaborated.. The current situation of the design fields in the city is defined by quantitive and qualitative data as well as interviews. Projects realized to become a city of design since 2009 in the leadership of the municipality are explained. Despite the unique characteristics of Izmir that create some positive impact on the local scale, its position is quite underdeveloped on the national and international scales compared to other leading cities in terms of the concepts of creative economy and global cities of design. This condition of Izmir is shown by using the holistic city branding criteria, indirect communication strategy needs of city branding, creative city criteria that cities should have if they want to develop by using creative economy, existing situation of creative infrastructures in the city and conditions that affect the preferences of creative people when they want to settle in a city. All of these indicators show that Izmir doesn't have any successful city branding or any effective communication strategy. Although there is a clear vision and motivation to become a city of design, overall the city of Izmir is not willing to make long term plans, take risks and stay loyal to the strategies while being tactically flexible. It neither has an open-minded character nor the determination to spread the leadership. Moreover, the high blame culture is dominating the city. Even though the condition of hard creative infrastructures in Izmir is positive, the main stakeholders of the city can't create soft and mental creative infrastructures. The collaboration culture, and professional and informal networks at local and international scale that provide interaction for creative people with backgrounds in different fields of design and creativity are weak in the city. The existence of up-bottom and bottomup organizational structures in the creative industries, the catalyst organs that work to increase the interrelations of private, public and third sector entities and the related supporting mechanism are not visible. Despite the well-established universities of Izmir having nationally and internationally well connected departments on design, the volume of the related local economy and the local demand for the creative service are questionable. This environment does not draw any tempting picture for the creatives when it comes to their motivations that make them settle in a city. By using the outcomes from the second chapter, the third chapter shows that even if today improvements are made within the creative economy of the city, the existing negative conditions defined under the titles like confidence on creation of creativity and design culture, organization, coordination and interaction capabilities of the city, proves that it is not currently possible to change the situation of Izmir to become a city of design. In the fourth chapter, UNESCO Creative Cities Network design cities and Izmir are evaluated within the context of network's criteria. First, the cities of design in the Creative Cities Network are compared. Common conditions are sought for giving this title to these cities, and the change that cities lived through in time is questioned. Then, the qualification of Izmir along the city of design application form is examined. It becomes obvious that fundamentally Izmir does not have any deeply rooted design-focused institutions, events and initiatives compared to the cities of design. It is clear that the ability of coordination and organization of Izmir's creative network is weak. In the thesis it is pointed out that if the city of Izmir aims to develop as a city of design in the context of creative cities, it should focus on finding people who create inspiring stories related to the creative fields at the local, national and international scale, while living and producing within the existing conditions of Izmir. It is discussed that an improvement in the conditions of the city's creative environment can be possible only by creating a change in the perception of the city by its own citizens. The event designed with the aim to affect this perception and the negative conditions of Izmir regarding the confidence on the creation of creativity and design culture, organization, coordination and interaction is described. The general character and the management of the event, generation of the creative network, preferences on the selection of the venues, interaction with the audience, financial structure, general communication strategies and content of the each event are explained in detail. The results of the survey conducted with the participation of the event's audience, and the observations made during the event have shown that the event works as an information channel for the people who are curious about the creative fields of the city, andit creates a physical space for the gathering of people with a similar mind-set. The event helps to design a communication channel and opens new ways of potential collaborations while creating a shared confidence in the city image. In the final—fifth—chapter, suggestions are made within the context of the data gained from the event explained in the previous chapter, and also through the definitions made in the former chapters. It is stated that the existing condition of the city on the path to become a city of design is created because of the lack of actions should be done by the municipality. These are listed as development of creative methods for creative environment of the city, generation and support of essential institutions, initiatives and events related to design fields and exploration of the creatives of Izmir to build a network. It is also discussed that transforming a city in this condition into a city of design, and creating a development tactic within the creative economies is still possible, if pro-active citizens from the creative fields of Izmir come together, inspire themselves and commits to create together. In this way, the creativity and design potential of the city can be revealed in order to build an environment which is open to change, interaction and collaboration. Bottom-up networks may force the creation of up-bottom organizational structures that will create support mechanisms. This will break the existing boundaries of the city related to creation and production, while inventing design related contemporary content for the present and the future. The city will gain a dynamic and constantly enriching ability on creativity and design while interacting with national and international networks that use the local resources for the local, and at the same timecreating new ones. This will embody a strong innovative city character and an everyday life focused on creativity and design in Izmir.