A method based on space syntax and fractal analysis for analysing urban texture: The case of Gazi̇antep

The question of how new designs should be in traditional city patterns is an important discussion topic, which is held in different ways in different design disciplines. It is expected that the newly architectural and urban designs will respond to the needs of the society, day, new circumstances and also adapt to the existing pattern in a respectful manner because urban space culture is of great importance both for the social and historical background of a city. The culture and sociological characteristics of a society can be transmitted and sustained to future generations through spaces. The space is produced and named by its society both physically and conceptually. For this reason, urban and spatial analyses as well as social analysis are of great importance to make new designs especially in traditional urban textures. The development and formation processes of organic cities are quite different compared to the development of todays, modern cities. In cities with organic growth, we see that social and local values are very dominant and that the city has certain logic under the development process that seems to be irregular. It is possible to say that the self-composed cities do not have a specific urban plan and calendar but a system of formation in which many different factors are handled together. In order to be able to analyze and interpret an organic developing city, it is necessary to understand the logic of the formation of the city. What kind of information can be obtained with the numerical data and analysis about urban space and how can urban space be analyzed numerically? This question is one of the main research questions of the thesis. Every city comes into play from certain urban elements, such as streets, structures that serve different functions, squares and etc. However, each city that emerges with the coming together of all these items is different and unique because the user, who makes these items meaningful and brings them together, is society. Each society builds its own space and reflects its culture by the space that he created. Cultural differences of societies are reflected and shaped in the places they are related to. The same urban and architectural elements are used in different forms in different societies. One of the best examples of this situation is the dead-end streets. While the dead-end streets are defined as unsafe areas in Europe, they are consciously preferred and designed in cities where Islamic culture is prevalent and also where the privacy demand is at a high level. So the understanding of the logic behind the spatial formation of each city is closely related to what societies mean to the spaces. In this study, it is suggested to use different numerical and analytical methods in order to analyze the multi-layered structure of the city and to interpret the obtained results in a socio-cultural context. By taking different numerical analyzes together, a city or urban texture can be handled in different contexts, can be analyzed in a multi-layered way, and numerical values obtained as a result of analyzes can be interpreted together. These numerical analyze and their numerical results can be used as a guide to the new design and the resulting data and interpretations. In this study the combined use of space syntax and fractal analysis techniques were suggested and implemented on the city of Gaziantep, which has a traditional urban texture and has been holding different ethnic groups together since the past. Syntactic and fractal analyzes of Bey District where Armenians were lived and Şekeroğlu District where Muslims were lived and the whole traditional urban texture were done, their numerical results were calculated and compared in a comparative way. Numerical values obtained after analysis are interpreted in the context of cultural values of society and these results are interpreted as spatial confusion and reflection on urban spaces. In the analysis process, space syntax theory which deals not only with the geometry of space but also with the social infrastructure; fractal theory which measures the complexity of a texture and some numerical values of the analyzed districts are handled together. During the space syntax analysis integration, connectivity, choice, node count, synergy, intelligibility and visual integration values were calculated and evaluated with the help of axial and visibility maps. The axial and visibility maps needed for the analysis were manually prepared and afterwards analyzed by using the Depthmap program, which was developed in UCL. The fractal theory, which measure the level of complexity and self-similarity of the texture, used in order to calculate fractal values of the whole traditional urban texture, Bey and Şekeroğlu districts and also their axial maps with the help of prepared maps and images. Numerical analyses of both districts were done by using conservation development plan of the city and aerial photographs. In the course of analyzes, old maps which reflect the past, city development plan, old photographs and aerial photographs were also used. After the analysis process it was observed that like all other prevailing Islamic cities, the concept of privacy has a dominant effect in the formation process of old city of Gaziantep. Privacy need of the society affected the distribution of the street networks of Bey and Şekeroğlu districts, where different ethnic groups live, also changed the relationship established by the localities with the city. The shape of the streets, the dimensions of the building blocks shaped the relationship of the districts with the entire city. Due to the results of syntactic analysis it is possible to say; despite the lack of trade function within the borders of the Bey District, where the Armenians lived, exhibits a more integrated, more open structure with the city, while the Şekeroğlu District is more segregated and more closed. The Bey District's street texture has a more integrated structure with the city, both visually and axially in comparison with Şekeroğlu District. In addition to these main differences, the higher syntactic values of the border axes of both districts show that they are more related with the city while the internal axes of both districts are less integrated and connected with the city. This organization of the inner and outer axes of the districts supports the urbanization and district organization manner of Anatolian cities. Different syntactic properties of the two districts do not have very opposite values, but show various differences. These differences also indicate that the cultural structure of locals which habited in these districts are different and also the fact of privacy is handled in different levels and reflected in different forms. In contrast to differential syntactic values of the districts, fractal analysis' results are very similar. This means that the city as a whole in architectural and urban context has a similar architectural context; the open-close space organization of both districts is very similar to each other. However, the fact that the building blocks in the Bey District are larger and have a smoother geometry than Şekeroğlu District affects the shapes of the streets surrounding the building blocks. While in Bey District, there are axes that allow for longer, continuous and visual communication, in Şekeroğlu District there are shorter and broken axes which prevent foreign and domestic encounters and interactions. In Gaziantep, especially in the 1950s, with modernization process, the traditional city and especially traditional residential areas began to lose their significance. Over time, families who migrated to the city of Gaziantep and whose economic conditions were not very good settled in these abandoned, traditional residential districts. However, due to reasons such as lack of care and unskilled joints, these neighborhoods and buildings were destroyed and demolished in great measure. Also after 1950's the city, which had an organic urban pattern, started to develop according to the city development plans drawn by Herman Jansen and afterwards drawn by Söylemezoğlu and Aru. These two different development processes cause a big gap between modern and traditional city patterns both in urban and architectural sense. Recently, the importance of traditional urban doctrine has come to the agenda again and these patterns have begun to be restored and re-functionalized. Today in Gaziantep, it is planned to redesign neighboring areas, which are not very qualified in architectural sense but which are located in the continuation of traditional patterns. It is thought that the proposed analysis and the proposed multiple reading method can be used as an aid in the design process of such projects. With the help of syntactic analysis of the existing traditional patterns, integrated axes can be put forward and continuity of the most preferred and highly connected axes also visual communication can be provided. Not only the continuation of these integrated axes but also continuation of the segregated patterns of residential areas can be provided with the help of syntactic maps. While integrated axes can be designed as more open and public areas, residential areas can be remained as more private areas. In this process fractal analysis can be used to calculate the density and complexity of the region. The current open-closed area ratios, block sizes can be calculated and with the help of these data similar land use properties, open and closed space relations can be designed similar to the existing qualified texture. The use of multiple analyzes in the scope of this study has been used on Gaziantep sampling area but it can be used in different patterns and cities. The interpretation of a city or urban pattern with different numerical methods is of great importance in revealing the different features of the city and in interpreting their relations with each other. Obtained results and interpretations can be used as guidance in new urban and architectural designs. At later stages the research can be enriched by the addition of 3D analyzes.