Living Infrastructure

UCL Bartlett School of Architecture

MArch Urban Design 10/11 UD unit 4

BENVUD 4.0 Thesis

Tutors: Anna Rose + Bernhard Rettig + Dan Ringelstein

Living InfrastructureC i t y o n w a t e r a n d U r b a n M o b i l i t y

UCL Bartlett School of Architecture

MArch Urban Design 10/11 UD unit 4

BENVUD 4.0 Thesis

Tutors: Anna Rose + Bernhard Rettig + Dan Ringelstein

“I, Yu-Cheng Tang, confirm that the work presented in this report is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the report.”

Left Crossing Right “Patchwork city”01

Foreword

Waterfront retreatment has been a significant issue of urban development around the world in the last two decades. Bruttomesso defines waterfront revitalisation as being “a genuine urban revolution”. Revitalising waterfronts has the function of transforming land use, and has a particular effect on social demands and patterns. Similarly, but a little different, regenerating railway stations also became a tough task after the industrial revolution in most European cities; The site of the Sirkeci train station area, lo-cated in the historical centre of Istanbul, has the two features described above. As a result, this report seeks to discover the possibility of an urban form as an experiment to provide a sustainable solution.

The idea of a living infrastructure, which is referred to as project “Patchwork City”, is based on the needs of local Istanbul people. In a general way of thinking, infrastructure has always been defined by cold fundamental constructions, such as bridges, roads, and even facilities built by governments for their local residents. Although these may satisfy the basic needs of local people, the depth of the demand is still lacking.

This project will address both the issue of waterfront revitalisation and the reuse of railway areas. Ac-cording to the proposed strategy, the project will be divided into three parts; improving the traffic net-work, regeneration of railway areas, and animating the waterfront to discover the possibilities for wa-terfront areas as well as urban Istanbul.

The aim is to find a pattern to fill the gap between the inner city and the waterfront, to increase the ac-cessibility of the waterfront, revitalise the decaying areas in the city as a trigger to improve the environ-ment of the historical centre, and then bring local residents back from the new CBD.

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Table of Content

IntroductionRevitalising with water

City on terminals

Spatial movement

Historical BackgroundHistorical development of Port zones

Evolution of the urban form_Pre-1950s

The Changing Istanbul City_ Post-1950s

Planning the Metropolis in the 1980s

Current IssuesAttempts at waterfront revitalisation in Istanbul

Urban mobility

Environment: local needs

Defining the Historical peninsula

Haydarpaşa TerminalTopkapi Palace

Hagia Sophia

Sirkeci TerminalBlue Mosque Spice BazaarGalata Bridge

Grand Bazaar

07

23

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New Infrastructure intervention as a TriggerHow to find the Site

Site AnalysisConstraints and Opportunities

Proposed Strategies: labelled by colour RGB

R_Improving Traffic networksG_Regenerating railway station area

B_Animating waterfront

Conclusion

Bibliography

Lists of illustrations

Haydarpaşa TerminalTopkapi Palace

Hagia Sophia

Sirkeci TerminalBlue Mosque Spice BazaarGalata Bridge

Grand Bazaar

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47

67

69

70

04

1:5000

Sirkeci

Bus stationTram stopTrain stationUnderground �nish by 2013Pedestrian

05

1:5000

Sirkeci


06

15/75 Km .

Istanbul, divided by water, stands between two main continents, and is known to be the oldest city in the world. The most unique characteristic of Istanbul is its relationship to water. The urban areas of Istanbul cover the hills, providing a great opportunity to face toward the water, and also offer spectacular views of the city. Water has played a key role in the daily lives of Istanbul people throughout the city’s history. It also both divides and connects two main continents, as well as being a convenient and pleasant means of transit. In fact, the waterfront played a major role in recreation before the modern urban development.

Throughout the urban development, the character of the water and the function of the waterfront have been interfered with to a great extent. For instance, taking the waterfront along the Marma-ra sea, only 15 km of the 75 km length of the extended urban area is occupied by anything other than industry and transportation (), and only a limited amount of this small ratio of land stretching to the waterfront can be used for recreation. Moreover, only 7% of the residents use water transportation between their workplace and their homes in the CBD. (The share of highway transporta-tion is about 87% and railroads 6%. ‘A study of the urban transpor-tation system in Istanbul’, by Istanbul Technical University, 1990, in Cumhuriyet, 30th October 1990, p 8). This depicts the fact that the water has been separated from the daily transportation in this city.

Above Constainople, the map pub-lished by the Socity for the Diffusion of Use ful knowlegde in 1840Midlle The view of the city form the seaBelow Overview of Istanbul ciity

Introduction

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Above Frery TransportationMidlle Galala Bridge which has mul-tible laytersBelow The existing water edge

Today, the impact of these de-velopments greatly intervenes in the city and the lives of the residents. As is known, a wa-terfront has a cycle of trans-formation, and this means that the port that was here before may not fit the exact demand of the urban pattern anymore. The new waterfront should be planned carefully in a sustain-able way for the next half cen-tury. This project will address two main topics, namely, water revitalisation and railway re-generation, in terms of urban redevelopment. In addition, the most important issue is how people move, feel or live in this new intervention project.

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Revitalising with water

Water as a necessity Water is essential to life in every form. According to Guyton’s thesis in medical Physiology, “the total amount of water in a man of average weight (70 kilograms) is approximately 40 litres, averaging 57 percent of his total body weight. In a newborn infant, the proportion of wa-ter might be as high as 75 percent of the body weight”. Furthermore, water, which has been referred to as “blue oil, is one of the world’s most valuable resources. It covers 70.9 % of the earth’s surface and is vital for any form of life, i.e. for drinking, using, and even taking a shower. Consequently, people’s relationship with water cannot be denied, although most people usually live on the surface of the land.

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Revitalising with water

Urban waterfronts, located between land and water on the earth, such as riversides and coastlines, are the most significant boundar-ies to contact with water. Waterfronts have become the richest ar-eas for urban planning, and redevelopment plays a general key role in revitalising a complete city. Throughout history, rivers, lakes, or even canals have built a boundary to cut the land in metropolises. They defined the type of character of urban areas. They were used for different functions, such as defence, trade, fishing, industry and recreation. Usually, these forms of water were the original source of the city, and also decided the unique characteristics of the city and played a key role in the daily lives of inhabitants.

In the 19th century, a most significant event affected the devel-opment of major mercantile cities such as New York, London, and Rotterdam, Chicago, Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town into in-dustrial ports. Due to the invention of steam-powered boats which transported goods to other cities around the world faster, as well as in large amounts, most of the world’s waterfronts took on indus-trial elements, such as warehouses, docks, and wooden piers. Nev-ertheless, in the latter part of the century, the cities were no longer driven by their industrial heritage. In addition, the social pattern and culture of the cities have also been replaced by a newly-orien-tated economy. On the other hand, waterfronts were planned to be recovered as potential sites for new developments, such as resi-dential, cultural, and recreational functions. Combining the quality of urban and rural life by water would provide a new experience.

In the latter half of the 19th century, in some cases, the adaptive reuse of former industrial buildings or innovative architecture in-serted into urban structure, such as the Tate modern museum on the south bank of the River Thames in London, became new sym-bols of urban development. Similarly, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao also recreated the potential of a new urban edge, inspir-ing the integration of the city and its waterfront, and also offering fresh icons to identify new urban life along the water.

Although the nature of the waterfront offers unique features for urban development, fostering the benefits of social and environ-mental elements, as well as political and economic interests, the potential combination between the built environment and the wa-ter is not easy to achieve. This is not a simple process; it needs a complex and detailed plan, requiring a huge investment of time, money, and of course, substantial planning with research and de-sign strategies.

“Water is the driver of nature. Water, which is the vital humour of the terrestrial machine, moves by its own natural heat.”

– Leonardo Da Vinci

Above Leonardo DaVinci. a city on several levels, 1485, the water city.Right Above The Tate Modern musuem at South bank, LondonRight Below Guggenheim Guseum in the bilbao, Spain

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Water as a threat

Throughout history, natural systems have made a dramatic phenom-enon of living with water. This precious resource affects our lives in cities, whether there is too much or too little water. Due to the ef-fect of climate change, the threat of the rapidly-melting glaciers or extreme droughts which are happening throughout the world, is re-claiming the relationship between water and its environment. Natu-ral disasters have been as diverse as the flooding in Mozambique due to heavy rain in January 2008; the series of tsunamis in Indonesia in 2004, which killed more than 225,000 residents in seven countries; and hurricane Katrina in August, 2005, which burst into Louisiana re-sulting in extensive flooding along the Gulf Coast of the United States.

The examples described above are just a part of the recent disas-ters which emphasise the significant connection between water and the urban environment. In response to this trend, urban de-signers, architects and associated professional specialists are re-sponsible for attempting to prevent these water disasters by design.

Diana Balmori, a landscape architect who dealt with projects along the Mississippi River, noted at the time that “the issue of water has been fraught with issues of control.” However, rather than fighting against it, her current work is developing alternative ways to work with water. To engage with water, Balmori wants to re-envision treatments for waters’ edges and introduce new rational bodies of thought based on alternative ways of working with water which can reduce the damage made by this natural force. On the other hand, this also provides new way of involving water. The studio of Balmori is tackling the new landscape in the form of a floating island connected to the land and it is working. The island will rise and fall with the changing height of the water during different conditions.

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Left Current site condition along the waterfront in Tai-pei showing 8-6 meter-high flood wall that protects the city from adverse weather condition and rising riv-er levels, but also cuts the riverfront off from the city.

Above Hurricane Katrina which hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, was one of the costliest and deadiest hurricanes in the United States history, causing damage to thou-sands of properties and destroying major infrastructure.

Below the landscape project in the Mississippi, USA

Architect Stanley Allen, dean of the School of Ar-chitecture at Princeton University, has also been engaged in several waterfront projects which aim to resolve the issue of flood protection, and the Taipei flood wall in Taiwan is an example. In 2008, Allen’s team was invited by the Taipei gov-ernment to regenerate a waterfront site which included a 1 kilometer section of Taipei, facing the river Danshui and bordered by the river Kee-lung, with adjacent parking lots. The challenge was to reconnect the waterfront and provide public access to the site, which was then occu-pied by sub-parking lots and other uses. As is known, inspired by the most important man-grove forest which originated from the river Dansui, the team proposed a new mangrove forest along this river waterfront in the project.

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City on terminals

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“We are not deliberately introducing chaos; it is the contemporary system that is doing so, with its contradictory assemblage of archi-tectural wills, populist sensibilities, financial policies, triumphant dreams, and so on”.

-Rem Koolhaas, the Euralille’ s master planner

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City on terminals

The redevelopment of railway station areas is one of the most chal-lenging tasks facing cities in the industrialised world today (Ber-tolini,1998). Throughout urban Europe, railway stations and their surroundings are the focus of ambitious redevelopment. Although each city has unique features and solutions for redevelopment, both similar and different experiences of redevelopment can be found in history. The only similar issue for most industrial cities is the tough task of how to cross the lines which divide the area into two parts.

However, time may be another issue. It is hard to say how much information we can learn from others, and the planning and de-velopment of a railway usually takes a long time. The data and information of the previous railway becomes out of date, changes and disappears in the current works. Consequently, the benefits of sharing redevelopment knowledge are evident.

According to Bertolini’s thesis, as a geographical entity, a railway station has two basic elements, one of which is a node, a point of access to trains and a connection to other transportation net-works. The other is a place; a specific area of the city with a focus on infrastructure but also with diverse buildings and open spaces.

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Above the model of the the EuralilleBelow The masterplan of the EuralilleRight The railway station as node and Place (Bertolini L, and T., Spit. 1998.)

NodesOne difference is that the railway attempts to connect a broader range of other transportation systems than seaports and air-ports, and a second difference is the spatial reach. The reach of the system is more limited in sta-tions than the others. Finally, the limited adaptability of network configurations is higher for air routes and waterway networks, but lower for railway networks.

PlacesAnother difference is the loca-tion of the terminals. Most rail-way stations are located where they were originally built. In con-trast, it is easy to move seaports from their original locations, and airports are located more out-side urban areas when they are first built. Nevertheless, there is an important implication in these differences. In Bertolini ‘s book “Cities on rail”, he claims that “the non-transport world tends to have a much stron-ger presence in railway stations than in seaports and airports.” In addition, not only different sorts of use and users, but more non-transport activities take place in railway station areas.

Interaction of nodes and places: railway stations (railports), airport and seaports

What do airports, seaports and railway stations have in com-mon? Firstly, not only airports, but also railway stations (rail-ports) were initially built as nodes in a transportation net-work of waterways, railways and flight routes. Moreover, these nodes turned into multimodal intersections of goods and pas-senger flows. However, apart from the nodal function, they are places which occupy a particular space; a station area, a harbour city, and an airport in the city in a particular kind of intersection within the area. Thus, is there any difference between them?

Station as Nodes Station as Places Station as nodes and Place 18

Spatial movement

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“The urban form and the land use pattern of the city which developed according to the transportation network, have not only reduced the accessibility of the waterfronts and weakened the relationship the residents of Istanbulhad with water.”

-Yenem. Z., Y. Unal, and Z. Merey-Enlil, IstanbulA city of water-fronts or a city Inland

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Spatial movement

Above The Concept of Living InfrastructureBelow Bedolina, Val Camonica, Italia one of the first maps representing a sys-tem of routes dates back about 10,000 years ago

Basic MovementThe act of crossing space moved from natural necessity to finding food for survival. However, once this need was satisfied, moving took the form of a symbol that enabled man to settle down in the world. As Francesco says, “walking is a art from whose loins spring the menhir, sculp-ture, architecture, landscape” This simple act has enhanced the relationship man has estab-lished with the environment, namely, land and territory. As a consequence, it is possible to define walking as a form of urban intervention.

Moving networks as a living infrastructure

From the 1930s to the 1960s, there were many design propos-als for new urban typologies to create a connection between modern housing types and modern infrastructure () For example, Le Corbusier’s designs for Algiers in the 1930s, where housing and motorway were one infrastructure, and a pro-posal by Smithsons for a new highway and pedestrian-related infrastructure in the Golden Lane Project for London. An-other classic proposal was made by Louis Kahn for Philadelphia, where he used waterways and the harbour as a metaphor to describe a big infrastructure in the form of buildings and park-ing lots.

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Above Philadelphia. Plan for housing with parking garages:design by Luis Kahn,1958

Expressways are like Rivers These Rivers frame the area to be served Rivers have Harbours Harbours are the municipal parking towers from the Harbours branch a system of Canals that serve the interior the Canals are the go streets from Canals branch cul-de-sac Docks the Docks serve as entrance halls to the buildings

-Luis Kahn, 1958

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Above Existing ports and potential port lands of Istanbul in early 1900s.(Koraltürk 2001)

Historical Background

Historical development of port zonesThroughout history, the function of waterfronts has been a cy-cle of transformation with diverse uses such as defence, fish-ing, trade, transportation, industry, and recreation. Each of these functions shaped the waterfront in a different way and also formed different water-urban integration models.()

Urban form of IstanbulYet, throughout the port development of Istanbul, the 1950s stands as a significant period, which divided two main processes of trans-formation in periods of time () to define the traditional relation-ship between the urban area and its waterfront. Firstly, a sum-mary of the evolution of Istanbul’s urban form before the 1950s is provided below. Secondly, the post-1950s period will be de-scribed, demonstrating that the relationship decayed with the im-pact of the urban form of Istanbul due to a rapid increase in the population and policies of land use and transportation networks.

Evolution of the urban form: Pre-1950sHistorically, Istanbul has been a city divided by water. During the period of the Ottoman Empire until the mid-nineteen century, the historical peninsula lying on the south bank of the Golden Horn was the main capital, while the Galata area was located on the northern bank. The Istanbul peninsula was the administrative centre, while Galata became the commercial centre. Although not as high in density, the rural area covered most sections of Istanbul. Many settlements were located on both the Asian and European sides of the Bosphorus, and the areas between these settlements were occupied by woodland and farms. These functioned as rec-reational areas for the people of Istanbul. The phenomenon of a “Galaxy of settlements” on both sides of the Bosphorus initially formed the urban pattern with an extensive radius of three kilome-ters in length. Yet, due to the need to commute between the two sections divided by water, an early system of water transportation was developed in Istanbul, with rowing boats and barges between the two parts of the city.

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Existing portPotential portlandPotential port

Stage Symbol cityCity Port

Period

II. Expanding city port

III. Modern industrial city port

IV. Retreat from the waterfront

V. Development of the waterfront

Ancient - medieval to 19th century

Large - scale modern port consumes large areasof land- and water- space; urban renewal of original core

Source: B.S. Hoyle, D.A. Pinder. and M.S Husain, ed. Revitalising the Waterfront. London, Belhaven Press, 1988

19th - early 20th century

mid - 20th century

1960s-1980s

1970s-1990s

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During the second half of the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire became the main source of raw material, cotton and so on, which opened a door to connect Istanbul to the rest of Europe. An extensive infrastructure was built in order to better connect to European cities. Hence, two bridges were built over the Golden Horn to connect the Istanbul peninsula and Galata. In addition, the railroad and a train station were also constructed and the harbours were improved.

As for the operation of steamboats, this initially served high-rank-ing governmental officers and Europeans living along the Bospho-rus, and then became the first form of mass transportation for the benefit of Istanbul residents. (Celik, 1984, 191-198) Meanwhile, the development of the transportation network enlarged its length to five kilometers in radius by expanding to provide new transit lines throughout the city.

Changing Istanbul city: Post-1950sStarting from the 1950s until the 1960s and 1970s, the gov-ernmental policies have given a high priority to the construction of the highway system rather than any other transportation method, both in the urban and rural areas of Istanbul. This has had a significant effect on the urban form of the great me-tropolis of Istanbul city. Yet, due to the domination of this mode of transportation, medium-sized industries were formed from small ones during the 1960s and 1970s. As a result, the popula-tion grew and the centre of the city became denser than before.

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DecentralisationDuring the process of devel-opment, the middle and high income groups decided to live in the suburbs rather than the most densely-populated areas of the city (Kiray, 1984, 33) As a result, the ferry and the suburban railway became the major forms of transportation in the daily commute to work. Nonetheless, due to the bridge being constructed to cope with the growth in private car own-ers, the major modes of trans-portation began to change, and within five years, private ve-hicles dominated 80 percent of the vehicles which crossed the bridges, while only 12 percent was mass transportation ve-hicles (Ormanlar, 1976,49)

Planning the Metropolis in the 1980sDuring the period between the 1950s and 1984, the central gov-ernment held the political power, and was the supreme decision-making authority. All the city plans had to be approved by the central government. This procedure contributed to the loss of plan-ning control by local governments, not only because of the long duration before plans were approved, but also because the central government was not able to clearly understand the local needs and interact with them.

In 1984, the administrative power to make decisions was trans-ferred from central to local governments. However, since the Master Planning Bureaus were closed in the same year, Istanbul lost its effective organisation and functionally-effective planning body. As a result of the policies of the 1980s, which aimed to make Istanbul a world-class city, large projects were constructed, such as a second bridge cross the Bophorus and the highway system, luxury hotels and other main infrastructure. However, none of these main projects were built according to the master plan. Furthermore, in terms of projects around the water, these did not really consider the development of the waterfront and its relationship with the city. Ironically, at the same time, the government announced that water played a key role in the life of Istanbul.

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Urban form -Pre-1950s

The share of water

between 1913-1928 was 33%

Period

The City’s urban formPost-1950s

Marmaray Project will be completed by 2013

The fourth bridge was built in 1920

1.2 million from the 1950s

12.9 million from the 2010s

Historical Background

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The city development

Radius: 3km

Radius : 5km

Steamboats and Railway development

Motorway development and private cars growth rapidly

Metro +?

Rowing boats and barges

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Current Issues

As cities’ important assets harbours today face a series of challenges. While maintaining their primary functions, they also have to meet the demands of social, economic, and ecological particularities of the city.

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Current Issues Attempts at waterfront revitalisation in IstanbulWaterfronts have always played a major role in the economic and social life of cities throughout history. The harbours around which cities’ relationship with the rest of the world and within its vicin-ity is defined still maintain their integrated functions. As cities’ im-portant assets harbours today face a series of challenges. While maintaining their primary functions, they also have to meet the de-mands of social, economic, and ecological particularities of the city.

The pressures coming from global and local relationships are to be regulated by new planning policies for harbours, which involve los-ing their original functions and offering the potential of develop-ment. They are considered as settings for innovative areas to con-vert their industrial heritages into cultural uses, integrating their open spaces with the rest of the city as a recreational axis, devel-oping housing and commercial functions for their communities.

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A great deal can be learned from the recent achievements of New York, London and Barce-lona, which are examples of sus-tainable harbour regeneration.

Istanbul is among the cities which face major changes in their fring-es, centres and waterfronts. The projects on the agenda of the city’s plans within the past 20 years aimed at converting the deteriorat-ing areas for new uses. It is argued that converting the potential of Istanbul through urban projects may enhance its competitive ca-pacity. It has been observed that, in the last decade, the globali-sation process has affecting Istanbul a great deal in many aspects.

With its geographical and strategic location, historical and cul-tural assets, dynamism and functional capacities, the city is in the process of being transformed into a global city. The new develop-ment modes which are emerging in the areas of the service sectors are attracting global capital and investment. On the other hand, the city is growing its national, regional and internal dynamics. The impact of these developments is as great on socio-econom-ic aspects as it is on spatial growth, and on the planning process.

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Exisitng Water edgeMiddle Car Ferry TermialBelow (Left to right)Passenger Ferry TerminalCruiser TerminalFishing on the BridgeTrain Ferry TerminalFerry Terminal

Urban mobilityTraffic and transport congestion is one of the strongest charac-teristics of all mega cities, espe-cially in Istanbul. According to a survey of “Istanbul: City of inter-sections”, the methods of trans-portation used by people in the city focused on motorised vehi-cles in the past. However, today, up to 50.5 percent of Istanbul residents walk between home and their destination, while only 10 percent of them use a car to commute. In addition, 83 percent of people in Istanbul would wel-come a policy which reduced the number of private car owners, and encouraged mass transpor-tation, cycling and walking. Bet-ter public transport means that it is faster, less crowded and more comfortable. Finally, Istanbul people think that investment in the tube system and the expan-sion of the bus networks in the city would improve traffic condi-tions. Generally, they would pre-

Overlapped Routes within a radius

2km

1km

4km

Day 1 (by plane &tram) Day 2 (by tram &walking) Day 3 (by walking) Day 4 (by tram &walking)

Day 5 (by ferry &tram) Day 6 (by ferry &walking) Day 7 (by walking) Day 8 (by tram & plane)

Up to 50.5 % Commuting by walking

fer to have a range of collective methods to deal with traffic con-gestion, and they also support a policy of a congestion charge like the one introduced in London Environment: local needsIstanbul is a modern mega city, full of contrasts. Rapid growth with little effective planning has brought relative problems such as unemployment, an informal sector economy, uncontrolled and illegal land occupation, the growth of shanty towns, seri-ous traffic congestion, and water pollution. () Overall, the biggest concerns of local people in Istan-bul are job opportunities and ed-ucation. In addition, traffic con-gestion is always a major issue in Istanbul, when local residents get stuck in their daily move-ments. According to the OECD , more than 380,000 vehicles cross the bridges every day while they were only designed to carry a daily load of 270,000 vehicles.

“Istanbul is the economic and fi-nancial heart of one of the world’s 20 largest economies.”

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Defining the historical peninsulaIn the beginning of 2010, af-ter the Istanbul field trip, three classmates in unit 4 had a simi-lar initial idea for Istanbul, and started to work as a group to determine the definition of the historical peninsula, Fatih. When considering other histori-cal sites around the world, the group decided to compare Is-tanbul and Venice, which have similar characteristics in terms of history and tourism, but are basically quite different. Accord-ing to the above diagram, there are three bubbles which define the orientation of the two cities, namely, Commercial, Museum, and Living City. Firstly, due to their historical background, both cities have their own historical monuments to attract millions of visitors per year. These tour-ists enhance the growth of the commercial sector, including retail, hotels, restaurants, and so on. Finally, the Living City in-dicates the phenomenon that residents outflow to other cities like the CBD. While Venice is a successful tourist city, Istanbul is a developing one, and it has more opportunities to avoid the outflow of residents and at-tract the local residents back from the CBD. Consequently, the aim is to find a balanced loca-tion between the three bubbles.

Geography

Transportation system

Open Space

Identity

Living city(Fatih area in Istanbul) Museum City(Main Island of Venice)

Background

Introduction

Population 12,800,000(Fatih 450,000)

Area 5,343 sqkm

Tourists 63,000/day

Population 272,000(Main island 60,000)

Area 412 sqkm(Main Island 7.8 sqkm)

Tourists 50,000/day

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Cars

Buses

Pedestrian

Tramway

Railway

Ferry for pedestrian, vehicle and Train

Underground tube

fIntervention

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Infrastructure36

The aim of this project is to improve the city devel-opment by implementing a new intervention. The initial concept of the intervention is based on wa-terfront revitalisation, with railway regeneration as a trigger. The conceptual diagram below indicates that the new intervention intends to transform the three bubbles. For example, in terms of the Marma-ray project, according to the data from the official Marmaray project website, due to the establishment of a new underground station, the daily number of passengers will rapidly grow from 10,000 to 75,000. In addition, each Istanbul commuter will save 81 minutes per day. It seems that Istanbul residents will have more time for recreation instead of suffer-ing from traffic congestion. Then, the recreational activities will foster the development of a Museum and a Living City such as an art gallery, museum, and an aquarium to provide job opportunities for local residents. Then, the flow of residents and growth in the number of tourists will attract local investment for the construction of new hotels and restaurants. Finally, the government could build other new infra-structure as a new cycle using plentiful tax revenue.

Transform

Movable radius mapping by GPSThe diagram below shows the radius mapping recorded during the 8 days of the field trip to Is-tanbul, and the unexpected version indicates the movable area in Istanbul by different transporta-tion means, i.e. aircraft, train, tram, bus, ferry and walking. Firstly, walking and taking a tram are the most used forms of transport within a 1 km radius. Moreover, not only walking and trams, but also fer-ries and trains are used within a 2 km radius. Apart from walking, trains, trams and ferries are the only forms of transportation used within a 4 km radius. However, it is interesting to note that the densest node is located in the Sirkeci terminal, a complex in-tersection if the routes were overlapped on these 8 days. It seems that the most appropriate site might be located in this node, i.e. the Sirkeci terminal area, to combine all the methods of transportation.

New infrastructure intervention as a Trigger

How to find the site?

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Commerce

Green Space

Eduction/School

Residence/Hotel

Government facility

Religion/Mosque

Barrier/Wall

Land Use

Day 1 (by plane &tram) Day 2 (by tram &walking) Day 3 (by walking) Day 4 (by tram &walking)

Day 5 (by ferry &tram) Day 6 (by ferry &walking) Day 7 (by walking) Day 8 (by tram & plane)

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Site Analysis

Sirkeci is an area near the Eminönü neighbourhood in the Fatih district of Istanbul city, Turkey. It has been named as the area in Eminönü which surrounds the Sirkeci terminal, which is a long distance passen-ger train terminus in Europe for the Orient Express.

TransportationSirkeci remains one of the main travel spots of Is-tanbul, connecting diverse transportation, including suburban trains, trains, buses, and of course, ferry systems. The Sirkeci station has been defined as one of the main stations in Istanbul because of its two main lines, one of which is the Orient Express, connecting Thessaloniki, Greece, Bucharest, and Romania. The other is a new underground railway line connecting Halkalı along the Marmara sea. The Marmaray Project connecting the European and Asian networks is under construction and will be finished by 2013. It will also serve Sirkeci station.

Land useThe Sirkeci area, located on the north eastern side of the historical peninsula, has been defined as once be-ing the administrative centre. Therefore, many active or inactive buildings which belonged to the Istanbul government still stand in this area, especially in the train station area. In contrast, the Galata area oppo-site the historical peninsula, divided by the Golden Horn, has been defined as being the main commercial centre. These two areas are connected by the Galata bridge, which has two layers serving both vehicles and pedestrians. It is interesting to note that the up-per level of the Galata bridge serves as a tram line and motorway, while the lower layer includes cafes and restaurants serving the pedestrians walking across.

Sirkeci Train stationThe area surrounding Sirkeci station consists mainly of commerce (commercial city) and tour-ists (Museum city), with mixed small shops, hans (local workshops), offices, boutique hotels, tra-ditional restaurants, bookstores, and great his-torical monuments. Therefore, the aim of this project is to find the balance of the city between these to strengthen the part of the Living City.

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Accessibility from city to Waterfront

Urban ContextRoutes and ports in the Byzantine(330-1453)

Main open space

1:5000

Sirkeci


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Constraints and Opportunities

“The urban form and the land use pattern of the city which was developed according to the transpor-tation network, have not only reduced the accessibility of the waterfront, but weakened the relation-ship the residents of Istanbul had with water.

-Yenen Istanbul: A city of waterfronts or a City inland (1998. 120)

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MotorwayDue to the topography, the development of the motorway was built along the waters’ edge of the historical peninsula. Gen-erally, this is the crucial cause of the reduction of accessibil-ity between the two sides of the waterfront and the inner city.

RailwayMost areas surrounding the train station are decaying, occupying large tracts of land but having been abandoned because of con-straints such as maintenance and parts of the railway. Moreover, due to the plan to complete the new underground station by 2013, the underground railway passenger flow will increase seven-fold, so it seems that the reuse of the railway station area will be another issue.

Ferry terminalThe main function of the waterfront of this site is transportation, serving 4 main passenger terminals, 1 car ferry terminal which oc-cupies a huge area reducing the waterfront accessibility from the city, 1 abandoned train ferry terminal, and 1 existing international cruiser terminal located at the north eastern end of the peninsula.

TopographyThe Golden Horn divides the European side of Istanbul into two parts, i.e. the ancient city known as the historical peninsula on the south bank and the Galata port on the north bank. The ancient city sits on seven hills with its historical monuments, making a major axis which connects the main areas all around, producing a unique skyline of the city and creating unexpected views from dif-ferent areas of the inner city. Thus, the project has been roughly divided into three parts by the different levels of topography, each one of which has its features. The green one represents the inner city including the historical monument, the Topaki Palace; the blue one is known as the waterfront along the Golden Horn which ex-ists as a harbour today. Finally, the red between the two of them is the new intervention of the living infrastructure, connecting the green and blue ones, coordinating a spatial concept between them.

Constraints and Opportunities

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Right Above The Constraints , Strengthe and Potential analysisRight Below Topograhy

WaterfrontMotorwayGreen space

+10

+10

+20

+30

+40

+10

+20

+42

+5+5

+6

+5 +12

+10

+5

+5

+6

+6

+1

+1

+1

+2

+2

+2

+2+3

+3

+3

+4

+4+4

+4

+4+6

+8

+1

+3

+4

1 Bus station1 Topaki Palace 1 Train ferry

2 Passenger subway 2 Sea Park 2 Abandoned track

3 Subway to tram3 Sirkeci train terminal 3 Train maintenance.

4 Gas station4 Main commercial street 4 Storage

5 Car parks5 Spice Bazaar 5 Car parks

6 Car ferry

7 Barrier

8 Street full of car parks

9 2 Story car parks

10 Military facility

6 Galata bridge

Strength Constraints Potential

1

2

4

5

6

3

1

23

4 5

10

8

96 7

1

2

3

54

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Above left Maquette of westway Park: design by Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, 1980-1985

Above right Redevelopment above and below the motorway

Middle Poble Nou: four-layered plan analysis. Bottom to top: a. urban and landscape-related context of the design. b. large-scale structural ele-ments; c. “superblocks’ d. suburban infilling.

Bellow Tokyo bay, Kenzo Tange,1960

Case Studies

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Above Right three-layered plan of Barcelona harbor. Bottom to top: a.harbor front as part of seaside landscape. b. harbor front as part of the beltway. c. harbor front as part of the local network.

Above Left Zuidas: the infrastruc-ture integration models. From top to bottom: dike, deck, dock.

Below The Brooklyn Queens Ex-pressway uses the sloping ground to advantage to cantilever the carriageways over each other

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Proposed Strategies: labeled by color RGB

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P

P

P P

Proposed diagram

Transportation methodsPedestrian way

Existing mobility

1

1 1

2

3

4

22

3 4 6

52

3

4

Motorway as a barrier Connected to Bridge by commercial activities

Lifting pedestrian way up to ground from subway

Pedestrian deck to connected two sides

Relocating the car ferry terminal

Subway

Motorway as barrier

Car ferry terminal as barrier

R_Improving Traffic networks

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P

P

P P

Proposed diagram


Existing mobility

1

1 1

2

3

4

22

3 4 6

52

3

4

Motorway as a barrier Connected to Bridge by commercial activities

Lifting pedestrian way up to ground from subway

Pedestrian deck to connected two sides

Relocating the car ferry terminal

Subway

Motorway as barrier

Car ferry terminal as barrier

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Intervention_Marmaray Project

10000 passengers

185mins mins/per day/per passenger

Waterfront

X 7104mins/per day/per passenger

75000 passengers per daySaving 81mins

7X

Green Park

Waterfronts

Markets

Museum

5

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5 Bridging to regenerating space along railway

Reuse Abandoned track

Train track as barrier

Where is destination ? _Sirkeci train station _Waterfront_Sea theme park

1 2 3

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Intervention_Marmaray Project

10000 passengers

185mins mins/per day/per passenger

Waterfront

X 7104mins/per day/per passenger

75000 passengers per daySaving 81mins

7X

Green Park

Waterfronts

Markets

Museum

5

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5 Bridging to regenerating space along railway

Reuse Abandoned track

Train track as barrier

Where is destination ? _Sirkeci train station _Waterfront_Sea theme park

1 2 3

Transportation networks

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G_Regenerating railway station area

Existing Public space

Attraction/monumentSquare/green parkPublic spaceAbandoned Space

1

1

2

3

4

34

2 3

4

5

7

6

PetrolStation P

P

P

P

Storage

PP

PP

1

2Parking policy to reduce vehicles flow in the area

Regenerating the street by creating green belt

2 storeyed parking tower

Decaying or Abandoned public space

Decaying terminal square

Decaying street

Revitalizing space at 2 sides of the train station

Connected Underground station by tunnel

Proposed Diagram

TowardTerry terminal

TowardSirkeci station

P

TowardSpice Bazaar


INFOPublic square

TowardSpice Bazaar

Entrance ofMuseum

areas

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Existing Public space

Attraction/monumentSquare/green parkPublic spaceAbandoned Space

1

1

2

3

4

34

2 3

4

5

7

6

PetrolStation P

P

P

P

Storage

PP

PP

1

2Parking policy to reduce vehicles flow in the area

Regenerating the street by creating green belt

2 storeyed parking tower

Decaying or Abandoned public space

Decaying terminal square

Decaying street

Revitalizing space at 2 sides of the train station

Connected Underground station by tunnel

Proposed Diagram


TowardSirkeci station

P

TowardSpice Bazaar


INFOPublic square

TowardSpice Bazaar

Entrance ofMuseum

areas

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6

7

5

5

6

7

Regenerating railway as new linear park

X-game thematic park

Refurbishing maintenance as museum

Decaying Railway area

Maintenance areas

Abandoned Train ferry terminal

D

CE

G

H

F

A

I

Entrance ofMuseum

areas

E_Jazz festival in front of ancient wall

F_X-Game Park on track

C_Railway museum

H_Art Village

B_Sirkeci station Square

G_Tokapi PalaceI_Pavillion with stage on water

D_Railway parkA_Open air theater

B Sirkeci Train station

New underground station

Development along new underground station

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6

7

5

5

6

7

Regenerating railway as new linear park

X-game thematic park

Refurbishing maintenance as museum

Decaying Railway area

Maintenance areas

Abandoned Train ferry terminal

D

CE

G

H

F

A

I

Entrance ofMuseum

areas

E_Jazz festival in front of ancient wall

F_X-Game Park on track

C_Railway museum

H_Art Village

B_Sirkeci station Square

G_Tokapi PalaceI_Pavillion with stage on water

D_Railway parkA_Open air theater

B Sirkeci Train station

New underground station

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B_Animating waterfront

Commercial

Recreation

Culture

Istanbul will build Europe’s largest aquarium! Turkuazoo Istanbul Aquarium will provide a vital additional value to the cultural city of Istanbul.

_55,000 m2 big_the largest aquarium in Europe._house 25,000 sea creatures._The water and creatures in the aquarium will come from the Sea of Marmaraand be delivered by truck and ships.

10km far away

Bayrampasa

Aquarium in shopping mall

Blue mosque

Hagia Sophia

Topaki Palace

Aquarium

New Attraction

Proposed Diagram

1

6

3

4 5

Existing Waterfront Port square Car ferry terminal

Swiss hotel as pavilion Cruiser terminal Node park

Attraction/monumentPublic SpaceHarbours

1

2

3 4

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2 Passenger terminal

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Commercial

Recreation

Culture

Istanbul will build Europe’s largest aquarium! Turkuazoo Istanbul Aquarium will provide a vital additional value to the cultural city of Istanbul.

_55,000 m2 big_the largest aquarium in Europe._house 25,000 sea creatures._The water and creatures in the aquarium will come from the Sea of Marmaraand be delivered by truck and ships.

10km far away

Bayrampasa

Aquarium in shopping mall

Blue mosque

Hagia Sophia

Topaki Palace

Aquarium

New Attraction

Proposed Diagram

1

6

3

4 5

Existing Waterfront Port square Car ferry terminal

Swiss hotel as pavilion Cruiser terminal Node park

Attraction/monumentPublic SpaceHarbours

1

2

3 4

56

2 Passenger terminal

58

12

34

56 8

7

1213

1415

16

10119

City

Port

1_Aquarium 2_International Cruiser 3_Stage on water

4_Carousel

10_Seabird

7_Ocean Festival

9_Ferry Terminal 8_Seafood market

6_Seafood vendor/market5_Vendors

3_Yachet

14_Fishing on the bridge 16_Waterfont square

13_Rooftop square12_Terminal lounge

15_Vendor on water

11_Pedestrian deck

Storyboard_the view from movement

59

12

34

56 8

7

1213

1415

16

10119

City

Port

1_Aquarium 2_International Cruiser 3_Stage on water

4_Carousel

10_Seabird

7_Ocean Festival

9_Ferry Terminal 8_Seafood market

6_Seafood vendor/market5_Vendors

3_Yachet

14_Fishing on the bridge 16_Waterfont square

13_Rooftop square12_Terminal lounge

15_Vendor on water

11_Pedestrian deck

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Masterplan

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Existing waterfront section

Mosque

Department store/Hotel

New Tube station by 2013

Ancient Wall

Topaki Palace Art Village Railway Museum Pavillion Restaurant/Cafe’

Railway museum Square Thematic railway park Concert Hall/Retail/Cafe’

Harbour for recreation

Warehouse/Retail/Cafe’

Sirkeci Train station Station Square Stage/Retail/Info/Restaurant

Parking tower/Retails Retail/Cafe’/Restaurant/Ferry terminal Departure/Arrival

Section D

A D

E

B C

Section B

Section C

Section A

Sections_Connection from city to waterfront

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Existing waterfront section

Mosque

Department store/Hotel

New Tube station by 2013

Ancient Wall

Topaki Palace Art Village Railway Museum Pavillion Restaurant/Cafe’

Railway museum Square Thematic railway park Concert Hall/Retail/Cafe’

Harbour for recreation

Warehouse/Retail/Cafe’

Sirkeci Train station Station Square Stage/Retail/Info/Restaurant

Parking tower/Retails Retail/Cafe’/Restaurant/Ferry terminal Departure/Arrival

Section D

A D

E

B C

Section B

Section C

Section A

ABC

D

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Experiment on models

ConclusionWaterfront revitalisation attempts have become a common issue around the world. The function of waterfronts is changing to rec-reation instead of transport, industry, fishing and so on, following the local demand and social pattern of the cities. As a result, most developing and developed cities are devoted to regenerating their water’s edge in a sustainable manner. This means that the govern-ment might need to discover an urban structure for a new water-front to last for the coming 40 to 50 years. The case presented above indicates the process of retreatment of the waterfront in Istanbul.

As one of the most important port cities in history, Istanbul has ex-perienced an incredible regeneration process. Water has always his-torically dominated Istanbul’s daily life by acting as a defence wall, a trade route, a means of transportation, and even a recreational area. Where ports in Istanbul used to play a role as key intersection points in the city, they will now become part of the urban pattern in modern city life. As a result, the waterfront revitalisation in Istanbul has be-come the first aim of urban development. However, it will face several challenges, such as policy, economic and environmental constraints.

Today, most of the industrial centres in Turkey are located near the water’s edge. The Turkish government has great potential to rebuild its waterfront. Nonetheless, most Turkish ports have faced different revolution periods than other port cities. According to “Waterfront revitalisation as a challenging Urban issue”, Bas Buluner (2006,4) indicates that most ports in city centres are still in an active use. Furthermore, port cities in Turkey have not experienced a period of abandonment, which may cause problems for some of them. Thus, it seems that waterfront revitalisation is a new trend in Turkey.

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Finally, Istanbul was planned to be a world city due to the policy established in the 1980s but it still has faced many practical dif-ficulties in focusing on urban issues.The urban form and pat-tern developed along the transportation network has not only reduced the accessibility of the waterfront, but also all but de-stroyed the relationship the local residents had with water. How-ever, the waterfronts are unmatched sources of recreation, which are, at the same time, places highly sought after for other devel-opments, especially those with a high potential of becoming a city, since the water provides good opportunities for public trans-portation. In addition, part of the waterfront area should be rear-ranged as a new port, which is a significant function in a metropolis.

.

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Lists of illustrationsCoverhttp://www.photographium.com/

07T History of Urban design08T Volkan Albayrak08M http://www.panoramio.com/08B http://www.panoramio.com/09A http://emilysutherland.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/water.jpg11 Leanardo Da Vinci12T http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/transformingtm/londonlandmark.shtm12B http://www.guggenheim-bilbao.es/secciones/el_museo/el_edificio.php?idioma=en13L Built with Water13R Balmori Associates14T http://mediamythalert.wordpress.com/category/hurricane-katrina/14B Balmori Associates17A OMA22 City and Port/Luis Kahn24 ISoCaRp Congress 200625 http://www.photographium.com/27 http://www.panoramio.com/29 http://www.panoramio.com/31L http://www.panoramio.com/31M http://www.panoramio.com/31R http://www.panoramio.com/32L http://www.panoramio.com/39 http://www.panoramio.com/41 http://www.panoramio.com/45 City and Port46 City and Port

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Living Infrastructure Yu-Cheng Tang

Living Infrastructure

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