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david hellstrom
Diploma 4

My area of research is the territories related to Turkey. What I have found is a society undergoing a complete urbanisation. This shifts the focus of my project to analyse the processes of transformations.

Turkeys three mayor cities are growing at a rapid pace. The basis for this growth is industrialisation. By stating this, the conclusion is that there is a massive industrialisation process going on in Turkey at the moment.

The industrialisation provides the condition and means for the urbanisation of Turkey, but it is also reshaping and colonising rural areas.

The web of urban fabric entails a fundamental transformation of daily life in Turkey. What remains in-between the web are rural island of varying sizes. Villages, cities and entire regions that can't sustain a local economy, decline and are abandoned to "nature".

These system of transformations is creating a massive migration from the areas outside the urban web to the mayor cities. The big cities is more or less becoming the only alternative for the rural population.

What is happening in the cities is a consolidation of the already existing. The extensions of the cities lack in complexity and have created a fragmented society.

My proposed strategies respond to the need for social conductors that span the social and spatial segregation on a local and territorial scale. These devices act through an intensification of actors and programs, connecting the old fabric with the new and opening up spaces for the unexpected. 

The urban web of TurkeyThe industrialisation process is colonising the rural areas.The parts in the urban web are becoming more and more specialised.Through the use of Landsat technology, I can determine the physical transformation in the cities of Turkey. The magenta indicates the massive expansion of Istanbul between 1987 and 2006A close-up of one of the areas shows the homogeneity and isolation of the extensions.In Ankara the extension is formed around the new infrastructure.The areas are lacking in public spaces and are disconnected from the old urban fabric.Izmir is expanding into the valleys surrounding the cityThe mono programmed spaces are inflexible and create strained social relations in the old fabric.The new social conductors span the social and spatial segregation, creating new spaces with multiple actors and programs, which in term can create the unexpected. This is vital to the development of a functioning and inclusive urban space where the local people can take part in and be part of future transformations.