Communication in urban space and a viewpoint for designing urban public spaces on perspective of the development of communication technologies

Since the first human settlements, urban public spaces have developed as inter-human communication and interaction places. However, in the 1990?s, with the transfer of technology to everyday lives, this characteristic of urban public spaces has been weakening. Communication technologies, while creating a distinct sphere of mobility in virtual space, change the codes of human mobility within the urban context. In this process, cities, whose functionary qualities have gained importance, have been molded around the focal functionary points of private space and transport. Yet the new generation, that has grown up adopting the new ways of communication, entertain the risk of having a future far from the city and the society. At this juncture, the urban public space has to harmonize itself with the changing conditions of the society.The aim of this thesis is to question the meaning of the urban public space and develop a viewpoint for its design, parallel with the rapidly emerging and developing ways of communication. In this study, the concept of urban space is scrutinized on the basis of ?physical communication.? In addition, changes and potential for changes of urban life and space, due to the existing and recently designed structure of newly developing ways of communication, are revealed.Upon this conceptual framework, Büyükdere Avenue and its immediate surrounding were surveyed as the sample field of study. This field of study, which stands on the intersection point of three districts of Istanbul, consists of a central business area and surrounding residential areas. The field of study is physically and socially elaborated in the framework of concepts of ?communication and interaction.? Physically, the compatibility of the phenomenon of urban public space is analyzed with respect to certain analyses such as land use, vehicle-pedestrian mobility, urban structure and scale. Socially, ?the relationship of people with newly developing ways of communication? is examined on the basis of interviews and observation studies. According to the nascent synthesis, in the face of the insufficiency of urban public spaces and the changing ways of communication, the key role of urban designing has become more salient, and this outline has provided the ground for presenting suggestions as to highlighted variables in the field of study.This study draws attention of the future studies of planning and designing towards the subtitle of ?communication?, in a rapidly individualizing and disintegrating world.Key Words: communication, urban space, communication technologies, urban public space.