A syntactic and semantic research on the temporality and spatiality of heterotopias

This thesis aims to examine heterotopic spaces and their formation morphologically, syntactically and semantically under current urban conditions. Heterotopic spaces are explained as an interpretation of Foucault's heterotopias, or "other spaces". The term encloses many different and sometimes even contradicting meanings. There are many controversial issues in the heterotopia concept itself, as well as in its interpretations in urban studies and architecture, thus a critical view is constructed by challenging Foucault's heterotopia concept. The term heterotopia is derived from "hetero-" meaning different or other and "topos" which means space. It can be translated to English as "other space" or "different space". There are two successive approaches to the heterotopia concept. According to the definition in the foreword of Foucault's book "The Order of Things" studies heterotopia's meaning in literature. Although the definition remains fuzzy, it seems to cover the main properties of heterotopia from a literary perspective. It tries to define heterotopias as opposed to utopias that are untrue but perfect. According to this definition, heterotopias are disturbing. They are destroying order and current norms, and in a way reforming their own systematics of order. However, the second definition involves a more thorough description of what heterotopias actually are from a spatial and temporal perspective, according to Foucault's speech named "Of Other Spaces" later published with the same name. According to this speech, heterotopias have six principles. Clarifying Foucault's six principles, one can make a brief explanation of the heterotopia concept (Foucault, 1986): • There is not a single form of heterotopia. However heterotopias can be studied under two categories: heterotopias of crisis and heterotopias of deviation. Heterotopias of crisis signify a disturbing phase of transition. Heterotopias of deviation are signify spaces of people deviated from the mainstream • Heterotopias can alter their functions according to their temporal and cultural context. • Heterotopias can gather several incompatible spaces in a single real space. • Heterotopias are linked to slices in time. They appear in two forms as time accumulating heterochronies and temporary heterochronies. • Heterotopias have an opening-closing system. They are not easily accessible for public. People can have access to them, staying excluded from internal relations. • Heterotopias have a relation with all the space that remains. Their role is to create an illusory space or a perfected space. According to these six principles, this section of the work attempts to make a hermeneutic research that explores and explains the conceptual framework of heterotopias. This section evaluates how heterotopias reflect to urban spaces and constructs a framework for redefining the concept of heterotopia. In the context of multi-cultural and historic neighbourhoods, the study puts forward a model that syntactically and semantically evaluates heterotopic spaces in those neighbourhoods. The study uses space syntax to evaluate the diachronic change in heterotopic spaces. In the first stage, Istanbul historical peninsula's five chosen neighbourhoods showing heterotopic characteristics will be evaluated syntactically in a greater urban scale. The analyses of integration and topological choice are compared diachronically to interpret change and any associated characteristics that heterotopic neighbourhoods can show on this greater scale. The results show that there may be similar syntactic patterns in different neighbourhoods having similar heterotopic situations. The case study Samatya is chosen as a result of its fitness to criteria of heterotopia concept. Samatya is a historic neighbourhood in Istanbul, where Greek, Armenian and Turkish communities formed the majority of dwellers during centuries. During and after the westernisation processes in the 1800's, many renovations have been made. These renovation and revitalization processes are also a result of many uncontrolled fires that happened in the 18th and the 19th century. An orthogonal plan which reduced the fire risk in Samatya was implemented after a long period of organic incremental planning. The largest effect was that the neighbourhood's spatial layout changed radically. On 6-7 September 1955, there was a tangible and intangible offense towards Istanbul's non-Muslim people, especially towards Greeks. Samatya was one of the places where this incident was devastating because of its high number of non-Muslim residents. Many houses, shops, cultural buildings such as schools and churches have been slaughtered. Many Greek residents left the area after this incident. This incident was significant in terms of the balance of non-Muslims and Muslims residing in the area. A large amount of Kurdish and Turkish residents settled as a result of this change of attitude towards non-Muslims. For the investigation of heterotopias in Samatya, the first step involves morphologic-syntactic analysis, that question how the heterotopic space relates to the urban pattern on macro-scale. The diachronic study on Istanbul historical peninsula involves larger changes on the urban morphologic patterns, such as urban growth, opening of larger roads or minor and major changes in urban planning, and observes the changes in the neighbourhood's intelligibility. The syntactic analysis of heterotopic spaces in the neighbourhood is realized in three steps. The first step involves exploring heterochronies, which signify that heterotopias are related to slices in time. Heterochronies are taken as buildings or landmarks having historical and cultural significance for the neighbourhood. Heterochronies collect and accumulate time. They shape collective memory and are hubs of co-existence in multi-cultural societies. They are changing physically, syntactically and semantically during the course of history. As a result, they stand as an important determinant of diachronic change in a historic neighbourhood. The spatial features of specific locations can be measured with the space syntax visual graph analysis. The integration value of a specific location on the grid determines the level of visual perception and accessibility of that location in relation to all other points on the grid. Centrally located, perceivable buildings found on longer streets tend to be more integrated in the neighbourhood. The second stage evaluates heterotopias' ability to juxtapose several spaces that are incompatible in themselves. As juxtapositions, multicultural patterns are studied in the neighbourhood scale in two ways: Use of space especially street patterns of different cultural groups, and cultural interaction on the street and urban space level. The first analysis determining cultural groups' juxtapositions on neighbourhood level, involves global and local integration of cultural groups' physical footprints. The axial analysis gives the results of how cultural groups settled and integrated into the neighbourhood throughout history, measuring the inclusion of the groups in the area. If they are globally integrated, they are more visible in the totality of the neighbourhood, and that they are placed on main roads, socio-economically integrated areas. If they are locally integrated, they are included into the neighbourhood on a social level. Locally integrated areas are mostly successful in social inclusion and livability. The second analysis measures the cultural interaction between different cultural groups on the street level. In the micro-scale, visual graph analyses put forward housing and trade buildings' isovist and integration levels of different cultural groups. The comparison of these localities and total isovist of a cultural group, shows which groups have a visual advantage in the area over the other. In the third stage, heterotopias of illusion are studied. This type of heterotopias are formed as a result of a shift in the meaning or/and function, and usually borrow another reality from some other place. The adaption of this fake amalgamation of old and new realities distances the neighbourhood from its own reality in long term. This threefold methodology investigating the neighbourhood syntactically on a socio-cultural level is supported with semantic evaluation of the case study. It reflects the actual situation in the neighbourhood, the experience of different cultural groups, sociologically, socio-economically and socio-demographically. Results of Samatya case study show that heterochronies are heterotopic spaces that change according to the perception and production of space related to slices in time. In Samatya case study, heterochronies that lost syntactic value, also lost their former meaning. The meaning loss occurs generally when a heterochrony loses its operational attributes. Because of being disused or changing function, they remain in the urban pattern as traces. Syntactic values rising show that the meaning is preserved or there are new fake meaning attributions to the heterochronies. These fake meaning attributions may be part of gentrification or urban transformations issues. Juxtapositions of different cultural groups and their spaces in the urban pattern, relies on the change of how societies make use of spaces, and how co-exist and they live side-by-side, in successive timeframes. Places that show cultural and socio-demographic continuity are likely to increase in terms of their syntactic intelligibility (local/global integration regression patterns). In multicultural urban spaces, cultural groups that seem incompatible tend to cluster themselves in specific territories. That fact results in the formation of "neighbourhoods into neighbourhoods" and "defensive structuring". In case a cultural group withdraws itself from a neighbourhood (due to displacement) and they are replaced by a variety of cultural groups having no common cultural practices, these new groups are settled on the most integrated axes. This preference can be interpreted as the desire to stay anonymous. In those spaces, they live according to the rules of the mainstream society, ignoring the cultural values of resident groups, and dissolving themselves into the public. Heterotopias of illusion form when spaces change according to societal issues or societies are adapting to spatial changes. Spaces changing according to societal conditions are resulting mostly in heterotopias of illusion. Societal issues changing according to spaces involve mostly situations such as gentrification or urban transformation. Illusions inject ways of living that are contradictory to the neighbourhood's customs and habits. Previous examples from other places' realities or illusions are implemented to the neighbourhood. Morphological and syntactic changes arise as a result different use and ways of living.