Speaker
Description
Public space is a symbol of democracy. For this reason, it is important to seek democratic methods in the design of public spaces. In this study “Public Participation” essentially means allowing people to be involved in the planning and development of the city, shaping their urban environment, and having the opportunity to be involved in anything and everything that is happening in that space (Kutluca et al., 2022). Participatory design methodologically represents democracy and user involvement in design (Shabab et al., 2018). This concept emerged in the early 1970s with the “aim of removing the barrier between the designer and the user (Kızılkan & Türkyılmaz, 2020).” The main idea is to create an environment which is more livable, economical, and supply-demand relationship by providing a contribution of users besides the architect or designer (Uzer, 2017).
Simpson (2015) and Spark (2019) argue that in this context, not only the individual but also civil society organizations, local governments and businesses should contribute to the creation of space in the field of decision making and implementation process. In this pluralistic participation model, the processes summarized as top-down or bottom-up are possible on a plane where actors ranging from municipalities and administrative units to urban activists and neighborhood organizations come together. In this context, design and planning studies serve as a tool that enables different actors to come together.
Büyükada Fayton Square presents an example of a participatory process in which different actors in public space are involved in the decision-making mechanism at both planning and design stages. Initiated by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in 2019, the Büyükada Conservation-Oriented Master Plan began with the Islands Transportation Workshop. While planning studies were ongoing, a decision to halt fayton activities was adopted in December 2019. Starting from July 2020, electric vehicles replaced faytons for transportation on the island. In 2021, before the planning studies were finalized, the stop area previously used as a waiting point for faytons was opened to competition under the name Büyükada Fayton Square Urban Design Competition, shaped by participatory processes with the guidance of a Strategy Document. In this case, participants were included in the process from the preparation stage of the competition brief through focus group discussions, surveys, and thematic meetings. The participatory process continued after project submissions, with finalists revising their projects based on feedback from both the jury and the public. Instead of voting, ideas were exchanged through discussion platforms. While the winning project was delayed due to the pending conservation plan for the Adalar district until 2023, it received approval from the conservation board in June 2024.
The Büyükada Fayton Square Competition stands out from other urban design competitions in Turkey due to its process and method definition. Re-evaluating the outcomes of this project, which prioritizes the practice of democratization in public spaces, from the perspectives of its stakeholders can contribute to determining participatory tools in future planning and urban design processes.
This paper aims to methodologically classify the roles and inputs of various stakeholders—such as civil society, local residents, the municipality, and designers—in the participatory process of Büyükada Fayton Square. This classification relies on primary materials such as jury reports and video recordings of online public meetings held during the process. Additionally, face-to-face interviews are conducted to supplement and deepen the analysis. This paper identifies which actors and which participation tools influenced the decision-making mechanisms in the process from planning to implementation, and draws attention to the differentiated form of public participation that began as provocative actions in the context of exercising the people's democratic rights in the example of Büyükada Fayton Square.
References
Journal Articles:
Kutluca, A. K., Olgun, İ. and Alay, M. A. (2022) ‘Kamusal Mekan Tasarımını Katılıma Sunmak / Presenting Public Space Design to Participation’, Planlama, 32(3), pp. 527–535. doi:10.14744/planlama.2022.24654.
Shabab, M. M., Zahibi, H. and Majedi, H. (2018) ‘Participatory Design; A New Approach to Regenerate the Public Space’, International Journal of Architecture and Urban Development, 4(4).
Türkyılmaz, E. and Kizilkan, M. B. (2020) ‘A Conceptual Idea of Participatory Design with BIM’, E-BPJ, 4(11), July, pp. 23-29.
Online Article:
Uzer, E. (2017) ‘Katılımcı Tasarım: Nasıl ve Kim İçin?’, XXI. Available at: https://xxi.com.tr/i/katilimci-tasarim-nasil-ve-kim-icin.
Other Documents:
Konkur İstanbul (2020) ‘Online Meeting Records, 19.12.2020 Participation Process Information Meeting’. YouTube video, 19 December. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PahumU7rg8A.
Konkur İstanbul (2021) ‘Online Meeting Records, 09.01.2021 Competition Brief Preparation Meeting’. YouTube video, 9 January. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcuS_6Yg4zo.
Konkur İstanbul (2021) ‘Online Meeting Records, 15.01.2021 Participation Process Theme Meeting’. YouTube video, 15 January. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdnTS-75ziQ.
Konkur İstanbul (2021) ‘Online Meeting Records, 20.02.2021 Competition Brief Meeting II’. YouTube video, 20 February. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=545ZoBIzNYU.
| Keywords | participatory design; democratization of public space; urban design competition |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
