Remembering the role of Kars stream in the daily lives of people of Kars: Ideas about a possible revitalization

Streams have always been one of the most essential parts of the cities they pass through. They provide fertile lands, enable the processing of products obtained from these lands with the energy of flowing water, and meet urban people's cleaning and recreation need. As alternative sources began to meet these needs with industrialization, the role of streams changed direction. The task of removing the city's wastewater, which enables the city to sustain its life, has been assigned to the streams. Over the past few decades, cities' needs for streams have shifted again. They have become one of the most crucial resources that make cities worth living in. This change has also occurred in Kars. Since the early 2000s, the focus has been on the places that once belonged to the Kars Stream. However, efforts to reintegrate the places of the Kars Stream into the city are handled independently of the Kars Stream. These efforts are content with very little of the value they can add to the city, and even their current potential is compromised by various projects. This thesis aims to focus on the holistic story of the Kars Stream and its places to reveal all the potential that the Kars Stream and its places can contribute to the daily life of the people of Kars. The thesis is grounded in the argument that the Kars Stream can be fully integrated into daily life by understanding its holistic story. To achieve this, memories were collected through semi-structured interviews from people whose daily lives were once intertwined with the Kars Stream. Based on the information obtained, the effort to make sense of it was expanded with another local source, and a narrative of the Kars Stream was attempted to be crafted. The information collected was analyzed, and ideas were proposed to repair the raptured relations with the Kars Stream.