Evaluation of changes in the historical city center of Konya through the sense of space concept

Our country, like all countries of the world, has been greatly affected by the phenomenon of globalization that is happening today. In this direction, our economic, social and cultural life has undergone a rapid change. These changes that have occurred have also affected our living spaces, our architecture, and our cities. Despite the fact that globalization has displaced our living spaces, many cities are trying to preserve themselves with the understanding of locality, traditionalism and protectionism. When we look at the historical city center of Konya, we see that the city center has undergone many changes for various reasons. In general, this change in the direction of tourism based on traditional trade and cultural heritage has also led to differences in the meaning of the place and even created a new sense of place in people's perceptions. The changes occurring in terms of physical environment, human activity and meaning in Konya historical city center were determined through a survey study, literature review and observation for users. Firstly, the concept of 'sense of place' has been thoroughly studied based on phenomenological foundations and a conceptual infrastructure has been created. Then, the basic components of the "physical environment" of the Konya Historical City Center, which was built using maps, photographs and visual analyzes related to the study area, were examined. Konya city center, is exposed to a rapid change during the last 20 years, with the street network plan, site plan, solid-gap analysis, photos of the main public space (streets, meeting places), places to see (buildings, monuments), landscape elements, street furniture components, have been obtained by examining data about the physical environment and examined how these have changed over time. As a result of these preliminary studies, a survey was conducted to evaluate the change in the spirit of the place from the user's point of view. As a result of the survey study, which included statements aimed at measuring users' feelings about the area, it was determined that the participants were satisfied with the work on the preservation and revitalization of the historic city center, but did not support all the practices in this sense. As a result of the study, it was concluded that every intervention to be made in order to preserve the spirit of the place in built environments and transfer it to future generations should be carried out as a result of extensive research. Keywords: people, phenomenology, architecture, historical environment, sense of the place