Parks as a cultural / public experience of space, everyday life and leisure activity: The case of Gaziantep city

Parks are the spaces that emerged as a result of industrialization and urbanization. In this sense, the first thing that comes to mind is an area where people meet their various recreational needs, where they rest and where the mother nature are taken into consideration. However, the park is not a place that can only be described by physical qualities. Especially, when Gaziantep city is regarded from a social perspective; the places make sense for the local people. As a matter of fact, the parks where various activities are carried out during Ramadan are home to traditions such as picnic, eating clotted cream of milk, Hıdırellez spring feast days. While these traditions attribute an identity to the parks, they are also a part of urban culture and everyday life; it is not an ordinary place, but a meaningful place. Thus, the parks which have a cultural role in making use of local people's spare time are seen as a permanence of the relation between the common people and the house. The nature that we see as the park eventually has completely different folds and routes in the their dream world. Therefore, in this study the link between the common people of Gaziantep and the park will be analyzed. On the other hand, when we consider the origin of the park, we encounter a variety of formal, social and cultural moments. For this reason, the concept of the park, which rests on the myth of Garden of Eden, refers to the gardens which are located within the borders of royalty and palaces or built around the houses of wealthy people before the modern age. In addition, in social and cultural terms, public spaces which have similar functions with today's parks are seen throughout the historical times. At this point, extending from Antiquity to Renaissance, when we consider different historical moments such as Agora in Ancient Greece, forums in Rome, Medieval squares and Renaissance squares, it is considered that parks are one of the indispensable places of the social and cultural life. Key Words: Space, Urban Culture, Park and Tradition, Sahre, Class, Identity.