GEZİ MOVEMENT: AN ANALYSIS IN THE CONTEXT OF PLACE/SPACE, THE DISCURSIVE PRACTICES AND THE SOCIETY A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY AYŞENUR YILMAZ IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE IN ARCHITECTURE SEPTEMBER 2015 Approval of the thesis: GEZİ MOVEMENT: AN ANALYSIS IN THE CONTEXT OF PLACE/SPACE, THE DISCURSIVE PRACTICES AND THE SOCIETY submitted by AYŞENUR YILMAZ in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture Dept., Middle East Technical University by, Prof. Dr. Gülbin Dural Ünver Dean, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences __________________ Prof. Dr. T. Elvan Altan Head of Department, Architecture __________________ Prof. Dr. Ali Cengizkan Supervisor, Architecture Dept., METU __________________ Examining Committee Members: Prof. Dr. Aydan Balamir Architecture Dept., METU __________________ Prof. Dr. Ali Cengizkan Architecture Dept., METU __________________ Prof. Dr. Celal Abdi Güzer Architecture Dept., METU __________________ Prof. Dr. Nil Uzun City and Regional Planning Dept., METU __________________ Asst. Prof. Dr. Bülent Batuman Urban D. and Landscape Arch. Dept., Bilkent University __________________ Date: ____09.09.2015_____ I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last Name : Ayşenur YILMAZ Signature : iv ABSTRACT GEZİ MOVEMENT: AN ANALYSIS IN THE CONTEXT OF PLACE/SPACE, THE DISCURSIVE PRACTICES AND THE SOCIETY Yılmaz, Ayşenur M.Arch., Department of Architecture Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ali Cengizkan September 2015, 183 pages This study aims to analyse the Gezi Movement, emerged in the last days of May 2013 against Taksim Pedestrianization Project which is conceptualized starting in 2007 by İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality and spread to whole country in a record time in June 2013 and lasted effectively for a month and continued during and after the research time, in terms of architecture and the society together with the discourses revealed in this process. The relationships between the society, the place and the places, and the discursive statements were examined to reveal the reasons behind this intense and instant public support and to explore the spatial meaning of the Gezi Movement in detail, which has attracted attention of many disciplines besides architecture, with v starting from a cemetery to the Gezi Park to Taksim Square and then to the rest of İstanbul and to a larger geographical scale. This research focuses on the reinterpretation of the Movement in terms of qualities of “place and “place- making”, evaluated as a way of being part of decision-making process about the city for the citizens, and how this social attitude reflects to the place/space. This thesis further aims to reawaken the concept of “Right to the City” and reveal the new kind of identities of citizens, emerged during the Movement. It was evaluated that the Gezi Park promoted the dissemination of the Movement with its physical properties and increasingly transportation of the similar values and the spirit to the other places which integrated the citizens and made Turkey the place of the Movement. This type of place understanding and the spirit in the Movement helped to create the urban memory as well with the public activities. Furthermore, the babbling, the irony, the self-expression, the words and the images appeared in the walls or the grounds in the demonstration places made the Movement different from the previous demonstrations, which promoted the Movement to be researched in terms of the discursive practices in this study. The method throughout the study was to find tools and examples for the dissemination of the Movement by the help of analysis, reports, written documents and daily media. On the whole, this thesis is an attempt to substantiate the Gezi as public space as to architecture, place-making and settings. It tries to reveal the citizen rights by analysing the place-based power struggle, the public space, and the daily life experiences within the limits of the Gezi Movement and provides the documentation and the examination of the experiences, the movements which happened before, and the information about the Project, which is required for better awareness of the society. Keywords: Gezi Movement, Right to the City, place/space, place-making, discursive practices vi ÖZ GEZİ HAREKETİ: YER/MEKAN GERİLİMİ, SÖYLEMSEL PRATİKLER VE TOPLUM İLİŞKİSİ ÜZERİNE BİR ANALİZ Yılmaz, Ayşenur Yüksek Lisans, Mimarlık Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Ali Cengizkan Eylül 2015, 183 sayfa Bu çalışma 2013 yılının Mayıs ayının son günlerinde İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi tarafından 2007 yılında kavramsallaştırılmaya başlanılan Taksim Yayalaştırma Projesine karşı ortaya çıkan ve Temmuz 2013’te kısa zamanda bütün ülkeye yayılan, yaklaşık bir ay etkili bir şekilde süren ve ve araştırma süresi ve sonrasında da etkisi hala devam eden Gezi Hareketini bu süreçte ortaya çıkan söylemlerle birlikte mimarlık ve toplum açısından analiz etmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Toplum, mekan ve mekanlar ile söylemsel pratikler arasındaki ilişki bu yoğun ve ani halk desteğinin arkasındaki sebepleri ortaya çıkarmak ve mimarlık disiplininin yanı sıra bir çok disiplinin ilgisini çeken, mezarlık olarak kullanıldığı zamanlardan başlanarak Gezi Parkı’na oradan Taksim Meydanı’na ve daha sonra vii İstanbul’un geri kalanına ve daha geniş kesim ve ölçeklere uzanan Gezi Hareketi’nin mekansal anlamı detaylı bir şekilde keşfetmek için incelenmiştir. Bu araştırma, Hareket’in “yer” ve vatandaşlar için şehirle ilgili karar alma sürecinin parçası olma yolu anlamına gelen “yer oluşturma” kavramları açısından yeniden yorumlanması ve bu toplumsal duruşun yere / mekana nasıl yansıdığı üzerine odaklanmıştır. Bu tez ayrıca “Kent Hakkı” kavramının yeniden uyandırılmasını ve Gezi Hareketi sırasında ortaya çıkan yeni kimlikleri açığa çıkarmayı da amaçlamaktadır. Gezi Parkı fiziksel özellikleri ve vatandaşları birleştiren ve Türkiye’yi Hareketin Yer’i haline getiren benzer değerleri ve ruhu diğer yerlere giderek artan bir şekilde taşıması ile Hareketin yayılmasını teşvik ettiği düşünülmüştür. Gezi Hareketi’ndeki bu tip yer anlayışı ve ruh, kamusal aktivitelerle de birlikte kentsel belleğin oluşumuna yardım etmiştir. Dahası, gelişigüzel konuşmalar, ironi, kendini ifade etme, gösteri yerlerindeki duvar ve / ya da zeminlerde görünen kelimeler ve görseller, bu Hareketi diğer eylemlerden farklı kılan Hareket’in bu durumu, Gezi Hareketi’nin bu çalışmada söylemsel pratikler açısından araştırılmasını teşvik etmektedir. Çalışma boyunca yöntem, analizler, raporlar, yazılı belgeler ve günlük medyanın yardımıyla Hareket’in yayılmasını gösteren araçlar ve örnekler bulmak olmuştur. Genel olarak, bu tez Gezi’nin kamusal mekan olduğunu mimarlık, yer oluşturma ve yerleşimler açısından kanıtlama girişimidir. Yer odaklı güç mücadelesini, kamusal mekanı ve Gezi Hareketi çerçevesinde günlük yaşam deneyimlerini analiz ederek kentli haklarını açığa çıkarmaya çalışmaktadır ve toplumun daha iyi bilinçlenmesi için gerekli olan deneyimlerin, daha önce gerçekleşmiş hareketlerin ve Yayalaştırma Projesi’nin belgelendirilmesini ve araştırılmasını sağlamaktadır. Anahtar kelimeler: Gezi Hareketi, Kent Hakkı, yer/mekan, yer oluşturma, söylemsel pratikler viii To My Family… ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I offer my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Ali Cengizkan for his guidance and delicate feedbacks and thoughts throughout this study. I am really lucky to work with him in this process. I have also learnt many things from his lectures both academically and personally. I want to express my great appreciation to Selda Sayılgan for her endless support and her valuable friendship. She always listens and pays attention to me, and my matters. Moreover, Seda Kaplan, Zeynep Ersoy and Aykut Yaprak have special places in my life. I am also thankful to my colleagues in Atolye5 Architecture firm for their valuable friendships. I would like to offer my sincere and special gratitude to my parents. Mehmet, my father and my confrere at the same time, has a special place in my life. He shares his knowledge and experiences insistently. My mother, Berrin, always supports me without questioning and she is always a ray of sunshine in my life. My parents always encourage me to develop myself and write this thesis. Begüm, my sister, is invaluable for me. She is behind a sister and I am so lucky to have her. I am also grateful to my brother, Alp, and his wife Tuğba for their supports and sensibilities. I owe thanks to Gülay, Nurettin, Sinan and Yasemin Altuncu for their valuable ideas and continuous patience. I have always felt their supports even if I had been away from them. I feel so lucky to have such a family that makes me laugh and feel special whatever happens. Having such people in my life makes me happy wherever I go. x TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................ v ÖZ ......................................................................................................................... vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................... x TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................