Evaluation of the effects of street naming (urban toponomy) over urban identity and social memory; Ayvalik and Cunda case

Streets are the first places where urban people step into the public space. Therefore, streets have a significant value on the daily life, identity of the city and the collective memory. Streets, as critically significant areas, have been exposed to a number of interventions for a long time. One such intervention is the naming of them. Due to the fact that the street names are continuously repeated they play an active role on the re-fictioning and perception of the history. Brief definition of urban identity is the outstanding features of the city that distinguishes it from another city. The streets are the first encountered places when a city is visited for the first time. They are also the first places that come to mind when a city is thought of. These situations effect the identity of a city as well as the urban identity is affected by the narrow streets of a city, pedestrianized areas and even naming of the streets. Streets as the first place that people step into public sphere play a major role in the identity of the city. Therefore, it should be considered that any intervention which was done / will be done on the streets will effect the identity of the city. Social memory, is one of the main items on building or creating an identity of a nation. Street names are directly related to the history of a city. Changing the name of a street, giving it a brand new name is a great way to make a nation forget its history. It's a way of replacing the new memories with the reminders of old events that happened there. The act of naming objects and people has been done in order to give identity to them throughout the history. The naming of streets plays an active role in the creation of urban identity and collective memory, as well. Furthermore, place names manifested themselves in the form of efforts on the political and social identity and opposition to the prevailing order or reproducing the order again. In other words street names are used to strengthen the order. The streets are the shortest way to reach people. Therefore, the memory should be managed in the best possible way and protection of the unique value of the city should be ensured. The dictionary defines the toponymy as a taxonomic study of place-names (toponyms) based on etymological, historical, and geographical information. Toponymy studies play a prominent role in geographical researches. Yet, the toponymy studies are not only related to geography, but also directly related with urban planning. A lot of information can be obtained about the city by investigating the street names. In this study, the importance of the streets for the cities in the context of urban identity and social memory is explained. After evaluating the effects of language use and naming in our country, it has been investigated what type of elements are used in the world the for street naming. When the worldwide studies are examined, it is seen that in Europe usually the size of the streets gains importance. In the United States commonly numbering is used. However, in our country, it is observed that the names of people who have a particular historical importance are given to the streets. In this sense it can be said that in our country the War of Independence had a great impact on the naming of the streets. Concepts which are related to the Republic, prominent historical figures in the War of Independence and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk are the common naming elements. Some changes have happened due to the latest developments and reconstructing of the collective identity. The scope of this study covers the evaluation of Ayvalik District's components of identity and social memory elements. Moreover, it is aimed to investigate the effects of these elements on street names. This context is described in three sections except for the introduction and conclusion sections. In the first part the importance of the streets for both the urban identity and collective memory of the city, and the people living in and governing the city is described. In the second part, the effects of language use and street naming are evaluated. Besides, what kind of elements are used in the street names, which names are used most both in our country and the world is investigated. In the context of urban identity and collective memory, how the change of a street name influences people living in urban areas, is also evaluated in this part. In the third section, the outstanding features of Ayvalık District are described and the street names are investigated. In this study, 664 streets were examined for analyzing the street names in the context of urban identity and social memory. The analysis shows that the humane features are seen to outweigh in the street names. It is noted that approximately half of the street names are related to the War of Independence and the Republic concepts. In these concepts, people with historical significance have a high ratio of usage than the other names. However, the names of the nationally important people are given to the streets instead of the locally important people's names. Although Ayvalık district has very characteristic environmental features, in street names these features are rarely used. There are many churches and church remains, some of which were transformed into mosques, some others which are being used as museums, that are from the period of Rum in Ayvalık. Yet, these churches have no impact on the street names. Generally the names are related to the hospitals, municipalities, mosques, fountains, etc. of the city. It was also observed that the uses of the features of the built environment are low throughout the county. Moreover, the uses of street names as the features of the built environment are very rare in Ayvalık. In addition, street names in Ayvalık district have been found to be against the law and regulations. 63% of the street names are given both numbers and names and %7 of streets have the same name with each other. Therefore, the need for a revision in the street names is observed. In the light of this information, the streets which will be renamed are recommended to be renamed according to the identity components of Ayvalık district in order to preserve and emphasis the identity and the collective memory of the city. Nearly the half of the street names in Ayvalık are related to War of Independence and the Republic concepts, a tendency that is also seen in other cities. This situation shows the commitment to the city's history and republic. Also, it brings the nation-state identity to the foreground. Giving names to the streets began in 1927 in order to facilitate the census. In the same year, the law on the naming of streets was made. This law explained how the names should be given to the streets. In particular, in the law, there is an encouragement for giving names. It is recommended to provide the names with historical figures, nature names, artist, etc. instead of numbers. Also, according to law and regulations, a street name should be either a number or a name, it cannot be both of them at the same time. The initial street namings were done this way, proper to the law. But in time as the new streets have opened, it is seen that the streets are started to be given numbers instead of names. Besides this, the numbering system seems to be done against the regulations. The components of identity which were analyzed in Ayvalık, have not been reflected in street names. Consequently, in street naming human features dominated and the reference to the names of natural features and built environment features are very weak in Ayvalık. It is observed that the components of identity that were analyzed in Ayvalık city as a whole have not been reflected to the street names. Especially, the names that referenced its natural characteristics and the features of built environment are very weak.