Dissenter body in public space

Public space is an important factor in the urban life by being a ground for the social co-occurrence and a collective production. It is a key feature of the sense of community. In this regard, the readings about the transformation of public space in the historical process possess the information about the societal life of the bodies in historical stages. Public space is the main concern of this study in relation to the transformations, which were shaped by the urbanites and their 'dissenter' approaches to the urban space. The 'dissenter body' concept is generated over the studies of Michel Foucault's 'biopolitics', Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari's 'anti-ödipus', Mikhail Bakthin's 'carnival', Henri Lefebvre's 'the production of space' and Guy Debord's 'naked city' in this research, and the exemplifications of the dissenter body have been sought not only in the fields of architecture and art disciplines, but also in the real urban experiences. In this study, 'dissenter body' represents the urbanites transforming their passive relationship with the city into an active force with showing presence in the public space and building a new relationship with the space and the people. This new relationship generates an experience that eliminates the traditional boundaries, enhance the bodily perception, and provide a field for collective production in the cities. Productions of this nature also show the possibilities of the public space, which is a part of our daily life. Public space earns new definitions through the new relationships established with the body. In this way, 'dissenter body' becomes the decisive factor before the city authorities, in the production of new spatialities. The practices of the 'dissenter body' can be claimed to be concurrent with the urban history. Even the public space (agora) of the Ancient Greek, which is the ground of participatory democracy, is not open to women and slaves. Indeed, being man or woman, slave or free at various periods in history means to be included in or excluded from the public spaces. That is why, the dissenter performances of the bodies, which are not embraced by the public realm, have emerged in every period of the history. 'Dissenter body' becomes observable in the events as rituals, carnivals and social movements in the cities. This kind of urban events offers different experiences to urbanites by altering the common behaviour in the public realm. The public spaces turn into a platform where the participation is encouraged. The new relationship between the body and the public space is built on this collective basic and improved by the creative thinking. The structure of the city is re-formed by the urbanites during the urban events. In this temporal form of the city physical and mental boundaries which are constructed through the social, political and economical dynamics in different cultures are ignored. Beginning in the 18th century, the industrial revolution, urban growth and development of technology started to alter the relationship between public space and body into a new dimension in the cities. As a result of the industrialization and modernization processes, the direct relation of the human body with the public space is dissolved and the public spaces began to transform under the control of the city authorities. The high-speed transformations caused difficulties for bodies in terms of adaptation and brought about the problematic relationship between the public spaces and the body. Many branches investigating the problematic side of this relationship have provided theoretical work in this field. Despite the problems of the modernization, unlimited potentials of the modern city are not deniable. As the city becomes a base for different cultures and desires, it gets open for different spatialities. By the social integration in the public spaces, the negative effects of modernization can be turned into advantages. Since the carnivals and social movements constitute the collective power by impromptu performances, the public space designers can awake this power with place making strategies. The disadvantages of the modern city like the homogenization in the city, physical and mental boundaries around the urbanites can be erased by this collective power. Therefore, in this study the approach to the public space is a way of search an interaction based spatial experiences which alters the urbanites into the conscious, productive and socially active 'dissenter body'. In the second section, in order to create a different perspective to the analysis of the urban space, the phenomenon of urban experience will be read through the bodies that have taken a role or trying to get a role in the public spaces. This reading will browse up to the 21st century's public space from the Ancient Greek's agora and will focus on the effects of modernization, which is seen as the breaking point of the relationship between body and public space. The transformation of this relationship according to political, sociological and economical events will be monitored and the 'dissenter body' will be brought to light in the historical process. The performances generated; as carnivals, rituals, social movements or bodily performances will be investigated with the dynamics that led them to emerge. In the third section, the theoretical works, which are the constituents of the concept of 'dissenter body', will be scanned. The theory of 'biopolitics' will be introduced which is used and developed by Michel Foucault to define the power generates itself through the human body and recreates the body together with its set of values and behaviours. The concept of 'anti-ödipus', which is developed by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari as a refusal of the organism with becoming a 'body without organs' will be reviewed. The 'carnival' theory of Mikhail Bakthin will be read through the involving potentials of the carnivals as a getaway from the world of strict organisms to the world of utopias. In addition, the ideas of Henri Lefebvre for 'the production of space' and the 'naked city' work of Guy Debord will be discussed. With the company of these procreated opinions about the public space, in the fourth section, the exemplifications for 'dissenter body' concept will be searched in the 21st century. The projects in the field of public space, which are created by the different branches as architecture, art, sociology or the interdisciplinary associations, will be reviewed. The improvement of the relationship between the urbanites and public space, and the potentials of the projects for the architecture discipline will be discussed. In the fifth section, Gezi Park event that born as a dissenter bodily expression from the public space will be reviewed. The new designs and new definitions of the space, which have been constructed during the Gezi Park event, will be exemplified. As the Gezi Park event created extraordinary spatialities not only in Gezi Park but also in the whole city and even in other cities, the spatialities extended over will be scanned and exemplified. The potential of these spatialities for the body and public space relationship will be discussed. Gezi Park event will be reviewed with the concept of 'dissenter body' by becoming a ground for collective production and showing the power of the bodies in the matter of making places. In conclusion, the body and public space relationship from the ancient Greek to the 21st century will be discussed in terms of their leading role in the public space transformations. Gezi Park as a temporarily transformed public space by the will and desire of the 'dissenter body' will be evaluated for its contribution to the city life. The possibility of the usage of the bibliography of 'dissenter body' for setting up new perspectives for the architectural practice and constructing new spatial experiences in the public space will be questioned.