Morphological change of a republican capital : the case of Ankara, Turkey

Boz Günay, Melike and Kubat, Aayşe Sema; (2022) Morphological change of a republican capital : the case of Ankara, Turkey. In: Annual Conference Proceedings of the XXVIII International Seminar on Urban Form. University of Strathclyde Publishing, Glasgow, pp. 1071-1078. ISBN 9781914241161

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Abstract

Capital cities have special meanings by their symbolic characters of their countries. Historical periods and planning decisions affect the forming processes of these cities. Ankara, Turkey’s capital city, carries the effects of these critical periods on its urban morphology since the declaration of the republic. This study considers the question of whether the unique areas which give a city the role of being a capital, have continued their characteristic meanings until today or not. By morphological assessing the analysis of a capital city, this research will contribute to understand its special urban structure. Ankara’s main planning periods and its development process are analysed by using two different morphological methods. The Space Syntax model, which provides a quantitative framework for evaluating the changing urban form, is used in the analysis of the city's main planning periods from macro/urban scale. As a result of the Space Syntax analysis, Ankara’s monumental and characteristic urban axis still exists in today. However, the commercial and administrative potential of the formerly formed republican axis lost its importance and replaced by a newly developing western corridor according to the current economic and political demands of the city. Evaluating these findings, in the second phase of the study, the analysis of the changing urban structure is discussed from a micro scale. Typo-morphological approach is enhanced to research the effects of the capital city’s changing process on its special and monumental urban axis from an architectural perspective. The findings of the typo-morphological analysis verify that the symbolic and historical places of the capital Ankara are significantly differentiated or even completely lost today. This study examines a capital city’s changing urban form with two different morphological methods. The importance of analysing cities’ spatial development processes morphologically is emphasized with this research by studying a special capital city from Turkey.

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https://doi.org/10.17868/strath.00080483
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