Urban identity

Urban identity can be defined as whole of the properties that differentiate a city from others. Natural characteristics of a city such as topography, climate and plantation and artificial characteristics of a city such as architecture, city furniture and open spaces are the physical factors that compose urban identity. Social and cultural relations that came into being as a form of meanings given on a space by a society, wants and behaviours, and political, economic, ideological and religionist features of a society compose the social identity. As a result of interactive relations between these social and spatial features, the city gets an identity in a time period. The identity appropriate to the city is only be came up to by attributing meanings, making ideal and imagination of the far side of the appearing face of a city. Nowadays, meaning of urban identity changes with new society and human being relations, new technology, new communication tools and scientific developments. Citizen and urbanisation concepts are also redefined on the basis of identity and differentiation. If urban identity is analysed in a historical process, it can be seen that antique, middle age and renaissance cities had an identity suits their spatial, social and cultural characteristics of that period. Urban identity was obvious especially on the physical side of view. In modern age, identity of a city exposed to radical transformations with rapid developments in all areas and some formations has occurred as no-identity or unique identity distant from urban identity concept. Urban identity was reformed with space reproduction of capitalism, universality and modernisation debates considered as Westernization. Free market economy and Western type democracy also took an important role in reshaping urban identity. In explanation of identity, cultural factors were ignored and city was handled only through economic266 structure as a reflection of social, cultural, ideological and politic structures. Space was not considered as an object itself and surrounded by time With the transformation has occurred in the areas of economy, culture, ideology, science and policy at the end of 20. Century, existing approaches began to examine. Integral, progressive and improvemental approaches of the positivist theory composed the modernist view of post lightening period is criticised due to creating pressure on human being. Contrast to homogenisation effect of modernisation handling urban identity as unique entity without permission of different identities, postmodernisation brings to light a point of view expressing differentiation while accepting division, plurality and local cultural identity. It is aimed to revitalise old identity with connecting eclectically the new ones. However, postmodernism is criticised making division of spaces in a city and creating a chaos supported by discourses of advertisement self culture and tradition in the name of identity. The effects of globalisation annihilating differentiation are seen all around the world with developing technology and communication tools. Cities choose marketing of their spatial, social, cultural and functional attributes and express their differences from other cities by getting an identity with attraction of capital. At the exceed point of the national state boundaries in relational networks between spaces, world cities become to agenda. Globalisation also brings localisation together. Opposite to globalisation effect of taking away human beings from belonging spaces and getting them lonely, localisation develops new belonging areas and express differentiation and direct participation in order to get new urban identity. City consists of all types of contradiction and oppositions in itself. If city is handled as a reflection of cultural forms, it can be seen as the area living plurality. Different identities that are respectful to each others find a part in a whole. Only if, new cities composed of spatial, social and cultural attributes267 \ are formed by their habitants and identified oneself with them at the point of coming together with different identities on the base of responsibilities, it is possible to talk about democratic urban identities. Cities with an identity can only alive as long as they are owned by their habitants.