Determination of visual impact of renewed Sakarya Demokrasi Square on users

Man, who tends to pursue individual life since his existence in the world, has not obtained his essential needs by himself throughout the history. Human being started to form communities to meet their nutrition, accommodation and protection needs. The communities formed by individuals with different abilities have built different structures in line with their needs and have developed their lifestyles as villages, towns and cities. Urban style living has brought additional needs such as transportation, shopping, coexistence and socialization besides accommodation, protection and nutrition. People have used public spaces to meet these additional needs. The Public spaces are either squares that planned by city or created by the intersection of transportation axes. The squares provide the basis for social participation, social organizations, coexistence and information exchange, political demonstrations, and social reconciliation, in short, the desire for people to become communities. These opportunities that squares provide to communities are a clear indication of how important the squares are in terms of public and social processes. Historically, the world's squares have been shaped according to social customs and traditions. Therefore, have shown several differences in shape and function in each geography. Nowadays, city squares offer opportunities to meet various social activities, shopping, and recreational needs just like Sakarya Democracy Square. However, as technology has developed, especially with the industrial revolution, social needs also changed and diversified. Due to this change and development, city squares have become inadequate. They have lost their function and meaning and became void. This study aims to determine the current needs in the design process of the Sakarya Demokrasi Square and to provide the most accurate and productive contribution of the users in order to meet the demands. Sakarya Democracy Square (Sakarya City Square), which is one of the most important squares of Sakarya and Marmara region, located around the city's main transportation axes, contains shopping malls, various private and public banks, public institutions, and various social needs. In this study, the transformation of the square due to the changing and diverse social needs is investigated and literature survey on urban squares, visual impact and user participation was conducted. In 2018, the drawings and the video and images of the project were designed by Sakarya Metropolitan Municipality with a new point of view. Participants were randomly selected in various places in the city as well as people living outside of Sakarya. With different age, gender and educational status. Surveys were conducted to measure visual impact, user satisfaction and user participation. A Four-step method was used in the study. At the first stage, the present situation of the area together with the photographs and videos of the new design of the plaza is shown. 120 people using the square were interviewed face to face. In the second phase, an online survey was conducted using photographs of the new design of the area with 100 people who had never used the area. In the third phase, an online survey was conducted with 60 people who had used the area using the video of the new design of the area. Differences between the current state of the square and the survey design studies conducted by the three methods related to the new design have been revealed. The best and most efficient method is tried to be used to attract participants. As a result; With this study, we try to understand what the shortcomings of the current Sakarya Demokrasi Square are and whether there is a need for transformation due to changing conditions and needs.