Participatory urban interventions in three major turkish cities: TAK, Onaranlar Kulübü, Urban Tank and Ankaraaks

The conceptual formation of the public participation in architecture and planning have mainly been developed by the radical architects of the avant-garde movement during the 1960-70s Europe, whereas the practices were commonly exercised through the movements predominantly established in America in the 2000s. Constant Nieuwenhuys, Aldo van Eyck, Alison and Peter Smithson approached participation through a social understanding and was pioneered by Yona Friedman's emphasis on users' participation on design, construction, and management phases. On the other hand, the participatory movements were mainly practiced through 'New Urbanism', 'Tactical Urbanism', and 'DIY urbanism', in the early 2000s US, and 'Community Architecture Movement' in the 1970s UK. In this thesis, the equivalents of pioneering visionaries' approaches and participatory practices of the key movements were explored for contemporary Turkey. The participatory practices in design, construction, and management phases were analysed through the urban interventions in three major Turkish cities, İstanbul, İzmir, and Ankara, through case studies listed as: TAK, Onaranlar Kulübü, Urban Tank, and AnkaraAks. The study revealed that the cases adapted a limited participatory approach and each case developed different collaborative models in order to intervene with the setting's context. It is found that the cases shared the concern of establishing a healthier relationship between the urban dwellers and the urban setting, which lead to the development of supporting approaches to the participatory practices. It was assessed that these supporting approaches aided in the development and spreading of the participatory practices in the contemporary setting of Turkey.