Abstract:

The human scale, among the principles of urban design, is a concept related to the sizes of the physical components in the space. Since the measurement unit of the space is human, the design of urban spaces at human scale and presence of human-sized components in these spaces evoke the feeling of like me in the individual. This sense of self leads to strengthening the human-space relationship and forming and developing a sense of belonging. For social sustainability, it is important to develop a sense of belonging in the individual. The sense of belonging helps to increase the sense of trust in place and decrease the alienation and tendency of crime. The aim of this study is to emphasize the relationship between human scale and sense of belonging. According to the study's hypothesis, the existence of human scale designs and elements in urban spaces improves the sense of belonging of the city dwellers. A survey was conducted with 400 participants in the study. The urban elements that the participants noticed while walking around the urban spaces and, at the same time, their sense of belonging to space were questioned. Then, urban elements were defined as independent and sense of belonging as dependent variables, and multiple regression analysis was performed. As a result, it has been determined that there is a significant and positive relationship between the participants' sense of belonging and variables such as landscape elements, urban furniture, pavement and pedestrian walkways, recesses-protrusions and door-window density on building facades. In addition, it was determined that there was a significant and negative relationship between the sense of belonging of the participants and the cars as the element they noticed. As a result, the design of spaces for pedestrians in urban design projects causes the sense of belonging of individuals to develop.

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