1 st International Urban Planning- Architecture Design (UPAD) Congress Kocaeli, TURKEY- May 8-11, 2014

Transcription

1 Conference Report 1 st International Urban Planning- Architecture Design (UPAD) Congress Kocaeli, TURKEY- May 8-11, 2014 Nevnihal Erdoğan* Oya Şenyurt** Kocaeli University, Turkey UPAD st International Urban Planning-Architecture Design Congress was held on May under the presidency of Prof. Dr. Nevnihal Erdoğan, dean of Kocaeli University Architecture and Design Faculty, with participation of all academicians. Congress started with protocol and openining speeches on May 9th Friday at the conference hall of Umuttepe Baki Komsuoğlu and proceeded with 3 forums, 3 panels, round table meeting, 16 parallel sessions, assessment meeting and technical visit. SymbioCity, an establishment developing sustainable urban development models in different regions of the world in scope of Swedish Development Agency, presented its experiences at the round table meeting that was held in scope of UPAD 2014 with participation of public administration representatives, private sector representatives and academicians, in Kocaeli Metroplitan Region. 126 presentations were made in total in the UPAD 2014 Congress 1. Presentations were made by 36 guest speakers 2 14 of them from abroad. Responsibility for such organization was not taken only by the Kocaeli University Rectorship, MTF Administrative staff and academicians but also by the establishments and establishment representatives such as Ercan Topaca (Kocaeli Governor), İbrahim Karaosmanoğlu (Mayor of Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality), Kent-Konut, Ayhanlar Holding *Nevnihal Erdoğan, Prof. Dr., Faculty of Architecture and Design, Kocaeli University, nevnihal.erdogan@kocaeli.edu.tr. **Oya Şenyurt, Assoc. Prof. Dr., Faculty of Architecture and Design, Kocaeli University, oya.senyurt@kocaeli.edu.tr. 101

2 Nuh Çimento, İzmit Municipality, Kavanlar İnşaat, Pekdemir İnşaat, Haldız Grup, Çolakoğlu Metalurji, Diler Demirçelik, DASK (Natural Disaster Insurances Establishment), Başiskele Municipality, Kocaeli Chamber of Industry, Kocaeli Chamber of Commerce and Wellborn Luxury Hotel. Urban Transformation, the much-discussed issue in our days, has importance for Turkey and Kocaeli. The cities in Turkey in the Early Republican Period and in the coming years were not ready for the important problems related to urban and regional development. Building production has been made uncontrolled as the responsibles for practising urban development and development programs were caught unprepared by the high-speed and dynamic process. At the end of the urbanization associated with building standards has been realized speedily unsafe living spaces with low standards were created and cities that are not enough qualified were constructed. Fast immigration and the forms of planned and unplanned urbanization as well as regional development have made Turkey in 2010s confronted with a busy agenda that is referred to as urban transformation. General purposes of the Congress have been formed by setting forth from that perspective. The first purpose of the Congress is to bring environments creating information, concept, experience and approaches together in the field of City Planning-Architecture-Design in the environments of Kocaeli city partners and academic environment in and out of Turkey and to ensure experience share. The second purpose is to form an academical information base for KOU-MTF, non governmental organizations that are in active in Kocaeli and public establishments by addressing different issues related to Turkey and/or Kocaeli. The third purpose is to create spaces and tracks in terms of City Planning-Architecture-Design enhancing contribution of Kocaeli University to international knowledge production and to make activities regularly in this scope. The main topics of the international congress which is based on the main theme are composed of eight items: Transportation and Infrastructure, Industry, Tourism and City, Service Sector Development, Vitalisation of Historic Areas, Disaster Planning, Urban Risk, Resistant Cities, Urban and Architectural Esthetics, Immigration and Social Dynamics. It is aimed that the topic, urban transformation, will be dealt with social, economic and physical aspects in terms of both theme and subjects. It is predicted that the 102

3 topic will be discussed with sub titles such as industry, immigration, increasing population, disasters and accordingly housing infrastructure need, effect of transformation on historical spaces, tourism and urban identification. In this context, it is targeted to create a common discussion platform on which different participative mass formed by academicians and city partners have an exchange of ideas. Figure 1: Participators and listeners in a forum held at SEKA Hall. After protocol speeches have been given on 9 May at Baki Komsuoğlu Culture and Congress Center, Prof. Dr. Richard Peiser, academician from Harvard University Graduate School Design Department and Prof. Dr. İlhan Tekeli, academician from Middle East Technical University made opening speeches. Richard Peiser remarked that redevelopment of suburbs in our day has rapidly become main problem of the metropolitan apartments and indicated how the suburbs in different cities in the world reacted to that change force. According to him, although solution choices vary as much as suburbs, by recognizing common components of successful revitalisation efforts unsuccessful samples have been taken into consideration. By emphasizing the tranformation campaign conducted by the Government in today s Turkey includes the transformations of the slum areas and the 103

4 spaces in earthquake risks, İlhan Tekeli remarked that overly encouraged strong establishments have been created for transportation implementations subjected to political campaigns in Turkey. According to him the quality of that transformation that has been experienced in Turkey should be described based on anthropological researches that are made in field. Striking discussions in three forums following opening speeches in participation with other guest speakers have been made in relation with Transformation Vision theme. In the forums that have been held at Seka Hall the presentation made by Architect/Dr Keimi Harada under the title of Future Vision of Urban Design in Tokyo City Center Transformation of Minato Town has been inspirational for development of the city in historical process and the targets that are determined for the Olympic Games. Figure 2: Prof. Dr. Richard Peiser, while giving openining speech for UPAD (Umuttepe). In the same session Prof. Dr. Murat Güvenç remarked in his presentation formed by three main chapter that efficient, learning feedback planning policies being established on action oriented performative information would mitigate the chronic problems arisen by the urban transformation process and by this way alternative urban transformation models could be 104

5 established. In the following sessions Dr.Nevzat Doğan, Mayor of İzmit Municipality, underlined that physical transformation should be realised as a whole without snatching local people from locality by creating not rent-oriented but people-oriented projects. Setting forth from Ekistics conceptual framework and globalisation context Prof. Dr. Arzu Kocabaş discussed whether it is appropriate to transfer the changing relation between urban protection and neighbourhood innovation in the United Kingdom into the agenda of urban planning in İstanbul or not. Manfred Schrenk evaluated the approaches in terms of remanagement and assessment of the components forming our modern cities in order to react to changing of remixing of city in the best way mentioning to how we evaluate in our hands in the best way particularly in economic crises and population differentiation periods. In the first panel of total three panels in congress Dr. Taslim Shakur underlined the necessity of investigations on traditional theories and concepts that are subsisting even though they do not live up to claims based on his researches on current trips and environments with various structures in the world by the panel entitled Economical and Political Dimensions of Urban Transformation. By the second panel entitled Socio- Spatial Dimensions of Urban Transformation-1 Prof. Dr. Mikdat Kadıoğlu expressed that mentioned occupational groups should work together and exploit the resources integratedly and efficiently in terms of Climate Risk Management by pointing to that synergy, information and collaboration is in minimum level among the establishments and specialsts in related with harmonizing with climate change and struggle with meteorological disasters in the cities of Turkey. In the third panel entitled Urban Transformation and Socio-Spatial Dimensions-2 freelance architects, public architects and the President of Kocaeli Chamber of Architects approched the matter with responses to the kind of Urban Transformation. The panels ended with presentation of projects including private sector and urban transformation relations. 105

6 Figure 3: Keimi Harada, while making presentation at Transformation Vision Forum at SEKA hall. In congress issues are concentrated on assessment of general theoretical information that have been developed on city and the problems of urban transformation in Kocaeli. In the parallel sessions topics have been discussed in a pretty large perspective from architecture and pretection, architecture and design to urban identity, Turkish cities and governance practices. Figure 4: UPAD Congress Organisation Committee and students. 106

7 It is clear that the congress, which is important internationally, will contribute to Kocaeli province in the long run. Kocaeli that hosts the Congress is benefited from the academical statements presented by the academicians of KOU Architecture and Design Faculty in respect with the problems arisen from urban transformation. By the statement entitled From Dystopia to Utopia: Kocaeli, which is commonly presented by Prof. Dr. Nevnihal Erdoğan, Hikmet Temel Akarsu and Büşra Çat, master plan and projects to be built up for 2049 dystopic future scenario that is fictionalised for the Körfez region of Kocaeli province were discussed based on the text written by Hikmet Temel Akarsu. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Oya Şenyurt suggested that irreversibility should be foregone conclusion unless the memories of urban space are transformed by determining the practices paving the way for demolition of urban memory in the past of İzmit and the breaking points gaining a seat in the history of town by setting forth from the continuity of the relation between spaces and urban memory. In the joint statement presented by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Deniz Demiraslan an assessment is made critically through the sample of Kocaeli province İzmit district by dealing with the effects legal and spontaneous changes on both town and town population. In the joint statement made by Assistant Professor Dr. Mehtap Özbayraktar (together with Assistant Professor Sonay Ayyıldız, Nilgin Çağlar, Neslihan T. Bayraktar, Eda Ölçer) assessed the results of changes and transformations of values ascribed to Kocaeli by the urban population in our day and past through the pilot study that has been made on Kocaeli Kartepe District Maşukiye Neighbourhood. The statements of the other academicians that 107

8 are made for Kocaeli Province are dealt with to a great extent in the scope of projects conducted in various regions of Kocaeli: Open Space Design Programs in the Urban Transformation Projects: Kartepe Aesthetic Transformation Project Case, a joint statement presented by Assistant Professor Dr. Neşe Çakıcı Alp and Associate Prof. Dr. Ersan Koç. Plan&Project Dialectic in Urban Design Studios: Gölcük Vision 2023 Experiences presented jointly by academician Dr. Ahmet Kıvanç Kutluca, Assistant Professor Dr. Zeynep Gamze Mert and Assistant Professor Dr. Ersan Koç. An Interdisciplinary Approach Based on Kocaeli-Gölcük-Değirmendere Area with Regard to Urban Disaster Risk Management in the Process of Urban Transformation a joint statement presented by Assistant Professor Dr. Elif Yeşim Kösten. Social Environment and Urban Furniture Identity, Example of İzmit Bekirdere Üçyol Square, a joint statement made by Assistant Professor Dr. Özgü Özturan, Assistant Professor Dr. Didem Erten Bilgiç and Assistant Professor Dr. S. Ahmet Çağlayan. Figure 5: Guests, participators and students during a technical visit to Kasr-ı Hümayun in İzmit. Congress ended with a technical visit in Kocaeli after the sessions for three days and an assessment meeting held on 11 May. Visiting the spaces effected and transformed by earthquake on August 17th 1999, Gölcük Değirmendere, İzmit SEKA Park, Kapanca Street 108

9 where civil architectural samples are restored and the old railway line passed through the city center. 109