Karaköy'de kentsel deneyimin keşfinde bir aracı olarak metaforlar
Metaphor as a mediator in discovering urban experience of Karaköy
Yazar: EZGİ AYDOĞAN
Danışman: DOÇ. DR. FUNDA UZ
İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi / Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü / Mimarlık Ana Bilim Dalı / Mimari Tasarım Bilim Dalı
Derece: Yüksek Lisans, 2018
Konu: Mimarlık = Architecture

Özet:
İstanbul'da değişmekte olan kentsel mekan, kentlilerin bu mekanı özgürce kullanıp, yaşamlarına zenginlik katabilecek etkileşimler kurmalarına engel olmaktadır. Bu süreçte kenti yeniden yaşamsal deneyimlerin bir parçası haline getirebilmek için, kenti daha üretici ilişkilerle yeniden keşfetmeye ihtiyaç vardır. Bu ilişkileri kurabilmek için düşünsel süreçleri zenginleştirebilecek; algı, bellek ve deneyim arasında yeni bağlar kurabilecek metaforlar bir aracı rolü üstlenebilirler.
 
Bu bağlamda tezin amacı; metaforlar aracılığı ile kentsel deneyimi yeniden keşfetmek ve böylece kenti bireylerin anlam arayışlarının bir parçası haline getirmektir. Bu kapsamda çalışmanın mekansal ayağını oluşturan Karaköy, gerek mekansal ve toplumsal çeşitliliği, gerekse mekansal örgütlenmede geçmişten gelen  izleri ile önemli bir potansiyel taşımaktadır. 

Bu kapsamda Karaköy'ün kentsel deneyiminin keşfine aracılık edecek metaforların neler olabileceği araştırılırken, sadece akademik bir literatür taraması değil aynı zamanda Karaköy'ün kentsel hafızadaki izlerini keşfedebilmek için edebiyat, şiir, görsel sanatlar, müzik gibi gündelik hayatın yansımalarını bulabileceğimiz alanlar da araştırmanın bir parçası olmuştur. Ardından mekanda yapılan yürüyüşler, gözlemler ve görüşmeler ile bu metaforların izleri görünür kılınmaya çalışılmıştır.
 
Çalışma kapsamında Karaköy; "Geçit", "Eşik" ve "Sahne" metaforları üzerinden ele alınmıştır. Bu metaforik çerçeve içerisinde; Karaköy'ün modernleşme, seyir ve toplumsal olaylar ile ilişkisine değinilmiş, zengin bir kentsel mekan olarak Karaköy'ün zamansal, mekansal ve toplumsal çeşitliliği ele alınmış ve bu çeşitliliğin yarattığı zengin karşılaşma olasılıklarına ifade edilmiştir.

Bu karşılaşmaların Karaköy'ün tarihsel geçmişinin izleri etrafında; geçici, kendiliğinden, ve var olan sınırları sorgulayıcı nitelikte olduğu vurgulanmıştır. Ardından Karaköy'ün toplumsal cinsiyet, iş gücü, emek ve alt kültür ile olan ilişkisi ele alınmış ve tüm bunların geçmişten gelen izleri ile bugün halen kentsel mekanda var olduğu ifade edilmiştir. Bu izlerinin keşfi için ise; mekanı deneyimlerken yürümenin ve bedensel deneyiminin önemine vurgu yapılmıştır. 

Sonuç olarak; metafor kavramı kentsel deneyimin keşfinde yaratıcı ilişkiler kurmak için önemli bir rol üstlenebilir ve bu sayede kentsel mekanları parçalanmış mekanlar ya da olgular olarak görmek yerine, bütüncül bir bakış açısı ile ele alınabilir. Bu kapsamda, yeni kentsel müdahalelerin yaratıcı ilişkilerin bir parçası ve insan yaşamını zenginleştirici nitelikte çevreler yaratması gerekir.

Abstract:
Constantly changing urban space in Istanbul prevents its inhabitants from enjoying it freely and from having experiences and interactions that may enrich their lives. In order to remake the city a part of living experience again, it is needed to rediscover the city with the help of more productive relations. To construct these relations "metaphors" can act as agents to enrich the intellectualal processes and to  create new links between perception, memory and experience.

This thesis aims to rediscover the urban experiences through the agency of the metaphors and thus to evaluate the city as a part of individual's search for meaning. For the given context Karakoy forms the spatial unit of this study as it provides spatial and cultural plurality while it offers a rich potential  to discover the historical traces through metaphors. 

In this context; the thesis consists of two main parts. In the first chapter titled "understanding with metaphors"; the role of metaphor in the exploration of urban experience and the role of the metaphor in the relations of experience, perception and memory are discussed. Then, the urban experience and metaphor relation is evaluated in the Karaköy region which constitutes the spatial footing of the study, and the relation of the facts, concepts and metaphors generated from the spatial experience of Karaköy is questioned. The second main section of the thesis, "Metaphors of Karakoy", was evaluated under three subheadings. These three metaphors were named as as "Passage", "Threshold" and "Stage" and the urban experience discovered through these metaphors were discussed with various diagrams and images produced.

Within the given context, for the research on the metaphors that will help to rediscover Karakoy's urban experiences, not only an academic literature review is done but also to find out the traces of Karakoy in urban memory; literature, poetry, visual arts and music were considered as sources for this study. The aim of this research is to explore the traces of everyday life and social memory through artworks.Walks in the area, observations and interviews were also utilized to make these traces of metaphors more visible. 

While looking for concepts in cultural productions like films, literature, poetries etc. that form metaphors, spatial facts have been tried to be discovered through observations and walks in the urban space. Instead of describing these processes in which phenomena and concepts are discovered, it would be appropriate to state that they are simultaneous processes. Therefore, it is possible to see traces of "walking around" while trying to understand texts, movies, photographs, and "looking for concepts" while walking in the urban space. However, it was possible to make a layered reading, which is described as "walking around, searching for concepts, understanding with metaphors".

The focus of the concept of metaphor in architecture is "connotation". Rather than establishing direct formal connections, it is exploring the experience with metaphorical "connotations" of concepts. Instead of analogies that establish direct formal relationships; the metaphores that have the potential to build more productive conceptual relationships can be seen as an enriching reading tool in the discovery of urban experience. From this, it is argued that urban experience can be formed in a qualitative urban environment that enhances layered and individual richness between perception, memory and experience, rather than directly and without depth relations.

This study approaches Karakoy with the metaphors of "passage" "threshold " and "stage".
  
In the "Passage" section which is the first Karakoy metaphor, Karakoy is discussed in the section of "Urban Passage" due to its role as a transportation center in Istanbul. It is then discussed in the "Cultural Passage", which refers to the relationship established with the different cultural classes, and in the "Spatial Passage", where structural relationships in the urban space are discussed. In this section, Karakoy is considered with all connotations of the metaphor of "Passage" and is regarded as an area of urban experience that revives with cultural and vital practices rather than merely a "transitional space". Karakoy's relation with gender, workforce, labor and sub cultures is addressed in this study and it is stated that all these can still be found in the urban space of Karakoy bearing the traces of past. It is argued that in order to rediscover these traces, walking and physical experience is essential. 

The "Threshold" section, which is the second of the Karakoy metaphors, is divided into three sub-headings as Geographical Threshold, Urban Threshold and Boundary Threshold. It should not be forgotten that the nature of the concept of "threshold" is a highly integrated relationship between these three sections. Because the metaphor of "Threshold" precisely describes these interchanging, transforming and intertwined relations.

Within this metaphorical framework, around the traces of the historical past of Karakoy; it is emphasized that it is an urban space that is temporary, spontaneous and questioning existing boundaries.The existence of rich encounter possibilities in the urban place in Karakoy, makes the place and also the time unpredictable and uncertain. Therefore, urban people are able to break new perceptions by establishing new environmental relations. Thus, Karakoy which is the place of encounter is transformed into a "threshold" space where is reproducible, ambiguous , variable, and coexist with opposites.

The third metaphor, "Stage", was chosen as one of the metaphors of Karakoy because of the  the role of gathering society around various subjects, coexistence of oppositions and the mediator positons of  producing meanings. In this context, the metaphor of "Stage" is divided four sub-headings as "Modernity", "Diversity", "Urban View" and "Social Events".

One of the bases of reconciling Karakoy with the "scene" metaphor is the "view" phenomenon where Karakoy shores and Galata Bridge are owned. As a connection point between Eminonu and Karakoy, Galata Bridge is an important view point of Istanbul with its panoramic view that it has both Golden Horn and Bosphorus side. Karakoy is also the "stage" of social events. Karaköy has hosted many social events and activities because it is an easily accessible urban focal point and since 19th century it is the "new" gateway to Istanbul. At the same time, Karakoy is described as "Istanbul's gateway to the west" and for this reason it is the place to visit with "new". Because of this, Karakoy has a close connection with the idea of modern.

To conclude it may be stated that the concept of metaphor can have a powerful role in order to develop creative relations to rediscover the urban experience. That helps to rethink the urban space with a holistic view instead of considering it as fragmented spaces or phenomena. 
In order to be able to create a substantial urban experience, it is necessary to change the current perspective and to give up the belief that everything has already been shaped by rules already set by others. At this point; instead of chronologically or linearly evaluating space and time, it is important to establish new relationships in the city through metaphorical concepts such as "Gate", "Threshold" and "Stage".

In doing so, it should not be forgotten that no phenomenon in the urban space exists alone, but only when it is related to other spatial, social and social phenomena. From here we can say that the new interventions to be made to the city, not just the existing ones, should be part of this relationship. Therefore, for those who live in the city, the new urban interventions; they must create environments where they can create new experiential bonds, freely explore individual experiences, and nurture search for vital meanings. 

Finally, it is suggested that the new urban interventions should be done as a part of this creative relation and  they need to create environments what would enrich the lives of the inhabitants.