A computational approach for evaluating complex urban formations

This study is based on the idea that spontaneous settlements exhibit complex adaptive systems as a distinctive characteristic, is on conceiving the meaning of these types of urban settlements in the context of computational thinking. In this respect, factors that make us consider the spontaneous settlements attractive and that they are complex adaptive sytems emerge from within the ideals that it is the creation of a conscious spontaneity which is formed up on computational thinking and computational processes that many cities lack. Thus, the researcher believes that it is important to attempt to understand these complex settlements that combine the continuity of change and stability considering the determination of the creation processes of new urban settlements and the continuity of built environment. The dynamic structure of these settlements make the city an attraction that is waiting to be discovered, and it also makes them complex and difficult to understand. While trying to understand a spontaneous settlement as a complex structure, focusing on this complex network of relationships, which makes the formation become visible rather than the elements forming it in addition to transforming this formation, has a strategic importance to reach the implicit knowledge behind the obvious. Studying complex urban settlements with both seen and unseen sides is possible only by using a multi-dimensional and holistic point of view that blurs the lines among academic disciplines. For this reason, it is important to make an evaluation that includes different perspectives in the process of understanding the attributes of the city as well as the patterns and relations among them and obtaining information beyond the superficial rather than focusing only on the visible and countable characteristics of the city. For this reason, it is necessary to understand the attributes of urban formations, the patterns and relations among these attributes and reach the knowledge behind them in addition to the visible and countable qualities of these formations. In this process, it is important to study urban formations both as products made of physical and objective things and as situations that are comprised of associations, images and concepts within human subjects. Thus, this study is intended to evaluate complex urban formations in an objective manner with the help of computational thinking and complex computational models and demonstrate a computational approach that supports a comprehension process that involves subjects (audiences or readers). The essence of the approach proposed by this study is to use the potential of computational and digital technologies to combine objective and subjective knowledge in the framework of a relationship in which they require and complement each other. The study approached complex urban formations with the idea of relational networks in mind and did research about what kind of an approach to propose based on the science of networks and network-based models, which have recently become important in complexity theory and its understanding of the comprehension process. Finally, the study proposed a relevant model.