A study on the development of shopping avenues in the context of spatial characteristics: Bahariye Avenue as a case study

This thesis study analyzes the shopping spaces and the shopping avenues that regained importance nowadays in parallel to the change in the act of shopping went through. Shopping avenues are quite important as they enable human to human interaction, namely socialization. Shopping has changed its form, transformed into enclosed shopping malls disconnected from the city and then along with the changing technological opportunities changed to online shopping. This change in shopping results in the disappearance of shopping avenues that help urban people communicate with each other. This increases the importance of shopping avenues further. Shopping avenues differ in regards to the different shopping functions they inhibit. Bahariye Avenue in Kadıköy situated in the Anatolian side of Istanbul which has a variety of utilization as described above is selected as a case study. While it used to be an avenue consisting of dwellings in the early periods, later on as a result of improvements in transportation and functions in the surrounding, offices and shopping functions increased. Cultural spaces, personal offices (clinics, prep. school, etc.), food & beverage spaces such as restaurants and cafes, and every small-scale trade space have a crucial impact on the development of this avenue. This thesis study is classified into three main sections. Second section classifies shopping spaces as indoor and outdoor spaces and examines the historical process. Third section examines the theoretical framework applied to identify the spatial character of shopping avenues as urban spaces. Fourth section approaches Bahariye Avenue selected as a case study in detail. The section starting with the history of Kadıköy and Bahariye Avenue examines the perceptual, physical and social characteristics of Bahariye Avenue, respectively. These examinations are supported with analyses on plans and sections, interviews with users and a survey study. Results and assessments obtained in the light of these examinations and investigations are revealed in the final section.