An empirical investigation of the interplay between typo-morphological transformation of historic house form and sense of place

This research aims to empirically examine whether continuity during the transformation process of the physical/built environment helps to sustain people’s satisfaction with life by bridging two previously independent fields of research: typo-morphology and sense of place (SoP). The former concerns the transformation process of the built environment, in paarticular continuity of urban form, represented through typological process which was theorised by the Italian Typological School. The latter is an important indicator of life satisfaction. The research proposes a mixed methodology combining typological analysis and SoP assessment, which then is applied in the Turkish context with seven selected cases of housing development in Ankara which were developed in different periods of the city’s development since the late 19th century. Each period features distinctive socio-economic, political and cultural conditions that have shaped different building types or urban types. Regarding the mixed methodology, a typological frame of a set of spatial characteristics is established against which types are defined at the building, street and neighbourhood scales. Then, spatial characteristics of the building, street and neighbourhood types of the seven cases are compared in a chronological order to identify continued and partly continued (thus in typological process), or discontinued transformation. Regarding SoP assessment, firstly, a conceptual SoP model consisting of ten indicators is proposed and interview questions for the residents of the seven housing developments are developed accordingly. Then, 20 residents from each housing development are interviewed to assess their degree of satisfaction with each indicator using a 7-point Likert scale. The research did not intend to measure SoP in its absolute value but to monitor SoP in a comparative perspective. By aligning the SoP scores with the corresponding typological changes at the three scales, the research reveals that SoP is weakened during the transformation process from the traditional types to the contemporary types. It proves that changing housing typology is one of the factors affecting SoP although the degree of its impact is not entirely clear compared to that of socio-economic and demographic factors. The results demonstrate that continuity over time at the building scale helps to maintain SoP at least at the moderate level; while mutations at the street and neighbourhood scales cause dramatic decreases of the SoP scores over time. Furthermore, the degrees to which physical changes affect SoP are different at different place scales. In detail, physical changes at the street scale affect SoP the most, followed by changes at the neighbourhood scale. Changes at the building scale affect SoP the least. The study also clarifies those spatial characteristics that contribute positively to SoP and therefore should be sustained in contemporary development in the cultural context. For example, functional zoning of the houses clearly defining the individual and shared spaces, gradual transition between public streets and the private building entrances, building accesses from pedestrianised/traffic-calmed streets, having clear boundaries of housing clusters, clear separation of public and private spaces, neighbourhood design prioritising pedestrians and integrated street network centralising open spaces and encouraging social interaction. Such characteristics are mainly relevant to the design of public spaces at the street and neighbourhood scales. In sum, this thesis has established a methodological framework for SoP assessment during the process of typo- morphological transformation. The framework can be applied to other Turkish cities or is relevant to other cultural contexts. The methodology has not only shed some light on the definition of typological process, but also contributed to the lesser extended literature on measuring SoP and understanding the impact of spatial characteristics on SoP.