VIRTUAL: Prague Heritages
Abstract
Every country, city, or neighbourhood has its own character in terms of the usage of its public spaces. Sitting outdoors is a social practice that has different meanings in different cultures. Even though this practice seems just like a daily life ritual, it has deeper meanings in the scale of social interaction. Sitting outdoors is a public behavior that became a part of the social culture over time in Turkey, just like in many other Mediterranean countries. Such everyday life practices create an in-between space other than public or private. This research aims to study the practice of sitting outdoors by looking at its spatial, material, social, economic, and gender-related characteristics in Istanbul. Urban plans are never enough to understand a city, but looking at its multiple layers is essential: The histories, cultures, identities, disappearing or re-appearing urban practices, stories, acts, obedience, or disobediences construct the essence of cities. As a step towards understanding these multiple layers, this study uses the practice of sitting outdoors as a pedagogical tool to look at today’s Istanbul. Five districts -under social and urban transformation- in Istanbul are studied to analyze the practice of sitting outdoors. The results of observational walking, documentation, and informal interviews are discussed in their own local contexts. The religious, cultural, and physical background of the city is discussed to understand how the practice of sitting outdoors is developed by removing the borders between body and space, public and private, constructed and autonomous.
Liana Kuyumcuyan studied Industrial Design (BA) at Istanbul Bilgi University and Social Design (MA) at the Design Academy Eindhoven. She is currently studying Architecture and Urban Studies (MA) at Istanbul Kadir Has University and working as a scholar on a research project focusing on migrants’ experiences of urban life in Istanbul. She runs the research project “Searching for a Cosmopolitan City in a Building”, which collects archives about the Postane building, originally built as a British Post Office in 1859.
Didem Kılıçkıran received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Architecture, Department of Architecture, and her doctorate from The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies (UCL), where she received a scholarship from YÖK. She was the Head of the Architecture Department and Head of the Architecture Department between 2016-2019 in Kadir Has University. She has been managing the establishment of the joint Core Program at Kadir Has University as the Core Program Director since 2019.
2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Wednesday 28th June, 2023