The 23rd seminar of the “Istanbul Urban Studies” seminar series organized by the Department of Urban and Regional Planning of Istanbul Medeniyet University moderated by Res.Asst. Can BALDAN from İstanbul Esenyurt University was held online on Wednesday, 4th November 2021. At the seminar Res. Asst. Selin TURAN from Karadeniz Technical University presented her study titled “Mahalle Kültürünü Sürdürebilmek ve Yeni Bir Kavram Olarak Sosyal Dayanıklı Mahalle: Kurtuluş-Feriköy“ (Maintaining Neighborhood Culture Today and as a New Concept Searching “Social Resilient Neighborhood”: Kurtuluş – Ferikoy Case).
TURAN started her presentation by giving etymological and functional definition of the concept ‘neighborhood’ and subsequently she explained the change and transition of neighborhood concept throughout the years in Turkey. She defined social resilience as the ability of societies to cope with the tensions that arise in the processes of environmental, social, economic and political change and considered it as one of the most important characteristics of sustainable societies. She mentioned that this social phenomenon has reflections in physical space as a result of dynamic processes that change over time, and that the preserved identities and cultures also contribute to the formation of physical spaces and neighborhoods suitable for this structure. The researcher first clarified the concept of socially resilient neighborhood and then evaluated the Kurtuluş-Feriköy neighborhood in the context of the parameters she developed by making use of the resilience and sustainability literatures. She reviewed historical development and cultural structure of Feriköy by considering the demographical characteristics and life style of locals to bring out reflections of cultural structure on urban space. Researcher emphasized that the Kurtuluş- Feriköy region has hosted different ethnic groups and minorities in the past and this feature contributed to the formation and preservation of a multicultural structure in social, economic and physical terms.TURAN shared the results of interviews and surveys which she conducted to test social resilience. According to the results, TURAN confirmed that Kurtuluş- Feriköy district has shown some major positive indicators about social resilience criteria like social connectivity, place attachment, history-culture protection and satisfaction. TURAN also said that architecture, urban planning and urban design are such disciplines which should work together to make urban space more resilient and sustainable. It was further mentioned that the connection between social, physical and communal spaces can be sustained by collective action.
In the following session, effects of urban development plans and public participation on creating socially resilient neighborhood were discussed.
