Istanbul Galata urban infill : transformation of abandoned areas in Istanbul inner city neighbourhood Persembe Pazari

ISTANBUL - GALATA URBAN INFILL : Transformation of abandoned areas in Istanbul inner-city neighbourhood Perşembe Pazarı Urban areas in the world have been living mechanisms which changes constantly with the economical, political and social cases as it continues in 21st century. Most cities are facing greater challenges as a result of these changes and it causes social, physical decay in city structures. Istanbul, one of the world’s megacities can be regarded as a test case in order to watch the effects of this challenge. Since it has been the capital of three major world empires; The Roman, Byzantine and The Ottoman it has a multilayered urban character which contains both East’s and West’s sensibilities have been built within the history. Today in its current rush of the development process, Istanbul is facing social, cultural and architectural transformations at a vast scale. Once a historical area lost its functionality it become dilapidated or catch by consumption based ideas which invade the social character of the city fabric. During the last decade, potential public spaces within the historical centre such as warehouses, dockyards, industrial and commercial heritage buildings were enclosed by privatization programs which break the inherited social pattern of the city and block interactions on the street level. Today the city is under the risk of losing its historical assets and the social character. In this context, at greater scale this thesis sets out to investigate current cultural, architectural and social status of one of the historical region in Istanbul, named Galata located on the intersection of Golden Horn and the Bosphorus. Later on the thesis focuses on Perşembe Pazarı urban conservation site stands on the coastline between two main bridges pass Golden Horn; Galata and the new Metro-line Bridge. Galata district is not far from the mentioned transformations above have been taking place around Golden Horn. Galata has a strong historical characteristic with the traces of Genovese, Byzantine and Ottoman civilizations. Although having a strong historical character, it has been rapidly losing its value due to dilapidation as well as partial projects and individual solutions lack of integrative plan. The thesis explores of possible answers to; how dilapidated physical conditions could be improved without invading existing streetscape and local identity? How new demands of different social groups applied without displacing current users which are crucial for the local identity? How private and public needs co-exist with the tools of architecture? In the research process the thesis aims to determine existing urban network by using basic information achieved from spatial analysis mainly as examining urban forms, daily flows and space use. The goal of the thesis is generate an architectural proposal to the highly historical built-out context within an existing community by working on the abandoned and neglected plots, by filling the gaps.