Özet:

Abstract Public spaces, where urban consciousness and collective memory is constructed, are expected to interact and tie strongly with their users. Urban design projects can create and strengthen this bond or damage existing ties and destroy sense of place. It is necessary to develop an approach to understand how urban design projects affect the relationship between citizens and public spaces. In this study, this approach is developed within the framework of “Place Attachment Theory”, on Bostanlı coast which has a sense of place and has been transformed with “İzmir Deniz” project. The physical environment was regenerated and also the relationship between public space and its users has been reestablished with this urban design project. It was sought to answer the questions of how users connect to space after the renewal, how psychological processes work and which features of space are effective in these processes. The field research was conducted to decipher these processes and measure the place[1]attachment by collecting data on behavioral, emotional and cognitive levels. The field research was conducted in “Bostanlı Footbridge & Sunset Lounge” which is the first project applied within the scope of “İzmir Deniz” project and opened to use in 2016. Simple observation and on site interview (structured) methods were used. The simple observation was made on the weekends at three different times in May 2019. The action patterns in the field were discovered by the mapping of evidences which were documented by photographs and video recordings. According to findings of simple observation, the area is used by different age groups, but the majority of users are young people. It is used more in the afternoons and evenings. The footbridge, wooden platforms, trees that create shade and urban furnitures are defined as reference points for place-making practices. Active (cycling, skating, football etc.) and passive actions (picnic, napping, sunbathing, reading, watching, taking photos, smoking hookah) take place simultaneously. Although it has been a short time since the area was opened for use, it has not been well preserved by its users. The wood cover has been damaged and graffiti has been drawn on the surfaces of both the footbridge and the Sunset Terrace. On site interview (structured) was applied in the beginning of June 2019, on weekdays (Monday) and on the weekend, by face-to-face interviews with 38 people (purposive sampling) at different points of the study area to sample variety of uses and user groups. The questionnaire was structured based on Scannell and Gifford’s (2010) tripartite organizing framework (person[1]process-place). The first part of the questionnaire refers to “person” dimension and consists of closed-ended questions about the demographic characteristics of users. The second part is related to “behavior” level in the “process” dimension. The third part is a 5-point Likert scale includes items at “affect” (emotional relationships) and “cognition” level in the “process” dimension. In the fourth part, open-ended questions were asked about “memories” and “meaning” at “cognition” level in the “process” dimension. In the fifth part linked to “place” dimension, the expressions regarding to physical and social components of urban space are ranged on a 5-point Likert scale. In the last part, questions are added to compare the participants’ attachments to place before and after new arrangement. Based on the results, public open space has a diverse range of action patterns (active and passive activities) to meet the needs of the users, and therefore functional value. The emotional process is more effective in the relationship between the place and its users. The effects of natural components are stronger than the effects of built environmental components in emotional and cognitive processes. The place has a value for its users also by its social dimension. As a consequence of these results, it can be claimed that the area has potential for place-attachment. However, the relatively low average values of some scales that measure place attachment, negative environmental behaviors of users and the limited number of answers to questions about memories (almost half of them are memories from time before the new arrangement) indicate that place attachment in the field is still in the development process. This study presents an alternative way to analyze public open spaces that have complex and multi-layered relationships by decoding the connection between space and its users. It is the first in terms of place attachment in public spaces and can be described as a preliminary study. Due to the limitations of the study, it was conducted with a small sample group and the reliability tests and advanced analysis techniques could not be applied to the scales. It is possible to develop this empirical study with larger sample groups, multiple qualitative and quantitative methods, higher number of possible variables that may affect place attachment and analysis techniques that explain the correlation between variables. It is crucial to increase the number of applied studies in this scope to contribute to design research of public open spaces that are qualified, successful and have a sense of place.

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