Kentsel kimlik üzerine söylemötesi bir sorgulama

In this thesis, a transdiscursive enquiry is employed for understanding and interpreting the urban identity as a paradoxical term within the context of globalization. The paradox of urban identity is discovered through the concepts of becoming, palimpsest and place-memory in Istanbul, here inquired as an exemplar. In three chosen fragments of Istanbul, namely, Asmalımescit, Levent-Kağıthane and Kuzguncuk, unique relations between the body and the place give rise to a constant transformation that enables understanding and interpreting the urban identity in a holistic way. These relations emphasized within the transmodern paradigm are discovered in the chosen urban fragments through transdiscursive readings. Transdiscursive readings are made with a holistic approach and through the grounded theory. A transdiscursive enquiry within the transmodern paradigm is carried out in the chosen urban fragments, in relation to the theoretical framework and methodological tools explained in the introduction. In the second chapter the urban identity is re-interpreted as becoming that would provoke a holistic approach in architecture and urban design. In this regard Asmalımescit is investigated, in which the urban identity emerges as becoming, in Lefebvre's words "a continuous development … punctuated by leaps." Asmalımescit as a historical settlement, where once out of sight taverns, artisan shops and artist ateliers were used to be located, became a favoured place for urban nightlife activities and entertainment, in the last two decades. This transformation took place under the control of the global capitalist economy and neoliberal cultural politics through a dominant discourse of nightlife and entertainment. Reducing Asmalımescit into a discourse conceals the productive potential of the relations between the place and the people in the favour of the capital. This material oriented process is uncovered through a transdiscursive enquiry. In this consideration, the prevalent and ongoing transformation in the area is read as a narrative, through relational experience with its discursive and non-discursive dimensions. Understanding the urban identity as becoming in Asmalımescit problematizes the relations of materiality and immateriality and carries potential to generate alternative ways of dealing with the transformation in the built environment. In the third chapter, the concept of palimpsest identity is scrutinized in particular in Levent-Kağıthane, through how the space is constantly re-organized by discourses. Levent-Kağıthane, which is developed in relation to modern and postmodern production and consumption relations, is undergoing an urban transformation process. This process is taking place through removing the current architectural and urban spaces with the discourse of squatter area that connotes old, rotten, unhealthy and replacing them with new living and working spaces that connote new, contemporary, healthy and clean. Even though Levent-Kağıthane is rebuilt regarding the discourses ascribed to it, by denying the current architecture and urban space, this could not be able to wipe off its relationship to its past. This points to a paradox of urban identity and refers to an urban structure that can be read between the past and the future, as a palimpsest in the present-day. The episteme of 'palimpsest' identity, could be grasped through the relational experience. Through a transdiscursive reading of Levent-Kağıthane -which we would never be able to grasp its whole-, it could only be possible to reach its episteme of at certain moment. In this consideration, Levent-Kağıthane, located on Levent-Maslak axis, which is developed with a "Financial Centre" discourse, is understood and interpreted as a palimpsest. The urbanization of Levent-Kağıthane with the industrial buildings and squatters and its transformation to serve sector with high-rise office and residence blocks is investigated in a transdiscursive way. Through the concept of palimpsest identity, the past and future of the multi-layered urban fragment is superposed in the present day through the relational experience. A transdiscursive reading on Levent-Kağıthane as a palimpsest opens up new ways for discursivity and allows understanding the architecture and city different than the hegemonic system's dominant discourses. In the fourth chapter the urban identity is considered as a spatio-temporal term called place-memory, and introduced through the relational experience of Kuzguncuk. Referring to Maurice Merleau-Ponty's concept of the bodily experience, relational experience emerges as a vital connection between the body-subject and the world. The relational experience is motivated with the cultural codes in Kuzguncuk through which new events are constantly produced. Each event opens up to its own world throughout a dialogue between the body and the world where the place – memory emerges. Kuzguncuk exhibits a place-memory in which cultural, political, economic, psychological and social dynamics are meshed as a whole. Its place-memory brings collections of lifestyles into mind, in which three religious and four ethnic communities have lived together leaving urban traces of overlapped cultural codes. These spatio-temporal cultural codes are grasped through the bodily experience. Integration of the body, imagination and the environment gives way to the relational experience in Kuzguncuk. Due to grasping the place-memory, Kuzguncuk is being transformed slowly, contrasting with the rapid government-supported so-called urban transformation process. Understanding the urban identity as a place-memory, grasped through the relational experience, offer remarkable possibilities for future urban transformation projects, without falling into the trap of ascribing a discourse as an identity. In conclusion, a transdiscursive enquiry is carried out in the chosen fragments of Istanbul with a holistic approach, based on a grounded theory for understanding and interpreting the urban identity within globalisation. The paradox of urban identity is pointed out in the transdiscursive readings of the urban fragments through the concepts of becoming, palimpsest and place-memory in a form of narrative. Pointing out the paradox of urban identity makes it possible to recognize the illusion created by ascribing a discourse as an identity to an urban space. By recognizing this illusion, a homogeneous and static urban space or world image could be displaced with a multiplicity in which the differences co-exist and transformation is a principal. As a result understanding and interpreting the urban identity in a holistic way through the transdiscursive enquiry could open up new ways of thinking –and acting– in architectural and urban design based on constant transformation and also open up different ways for articulating to the eternal transformation of the city.