The accessibility of public open spaces in context of waterfront development: a case study in istanbul, karaköy district / galataport

The accessibility of waterfronts plays a significant part in the planning and design of waterfront transformations. Since water is the dominant element in these areas, the interactions between urban spaces in a waterfront project and water should be considered. The Galataport waterfront transformation project is considered as one of the large-scale waterfront transformation projects in Istanbul and yet there is a need to study deeper in terms of accessibility since there are conflicts inside the project that it is more capital oriented rather than being publicly considered. The study investigates the accessibility of Galataport waterfront in terms of public open spaces through three forms of physical, visual and visual. To comprehend each of these a broad literature review conducted from articles and case studies in which indicators to analyse these factors are established. These indicators are defined by some components such as the function of the waterfront project, land use, history of the project, buildings or structures related to the port, welcoming sense to visitors, community values and balance of interests between stakeholders, ease of access and activities inside the waterfront. The mentioned elements are analysed through field observation and mapping within the context of the Galataport waterfront in Istanbul. The result of the findings indicate that there are challenges in entrances, width of shoreline, visuality of the sea and disregarding of public in terms of symboliacity.