Relationship between abandoned open spaces and pedestrian flow: In a case study of Antalya
Özet
As Jacobs (1961) mentioned, a vital urban life relies on the active street life that results from high levels of pedestrian flow. That flow can help prevent adverse effects and ensure the sociability of abandoned open spaces that emerged in the cities due to rapid urbanization and lack of planning. Different terms have been used to define these spaces. For example, Trancik (1986) defined them as lost spaces that no longer serve their design purposes and therefore need to be redesigned and built. He mentioned that they do not contribute positively to their environment and users; they are not well-defined and have no measurable boundaries. Because of these spaces, pedestrians do not prefer to use the surrounding urban area, so the sociability and the usage of that area and commercial areas are negatively affected. Using the pedestrian flow to solve the problems that abandoned open spaces create can be beneficial. The goal of this research is to contribute to the literature by suggesting alternative design approaches to activate abandoned open spaces through pedestrian flow. To achieve this goal, we investigated the relations between syntactical features of abandoned open spaces and the pedestrian flow around them. The hypothesis is that improving pedestrian flow around these spaces can activate them, and to improve it abandoned open spaces should be more visible and integrated with the urban texture. To evaluate the hypothesis, we selected an urban area with abandoned open spaces near the historic city center of Antalya as the research site. The target city contains various scales of multiple open spaces and pedestrian interaction; it is ideal for studying their relations. With this goal, the following tasks have been conducted. First, determine the locations of abandoned open spaces in the research site. Second, analyze the syntactical features of selected abandoned open spaces. Third, analyze the pedestrian flow around these spaces. Lastly, investigate the relations between the syntactical features and the pedestrian flow. With these tasks, the following methodologies have been adopted. First, we selected a route in the research site and determined the abandoned open spaces on it by observations. We also determined the functions, users, and physical conditions, like being in-between buildings or corners, having empty or occupied neighboring parcels, and having greenery. Second, we analyzed the syntactical features like connectivity, integration, choice, and visibility of abandoned open spaces using Depthmap. Third, we tracked pedestrian flow on every selected site with systematic observations, one week and one weekend day in three different periods. We counted the pedestrians that passed, used the space with the gate count method, and created maps that show usage and the flow for every site. We also consider the flow of vehicles because it affects the usage of these spaces as parking lots. For the last, we compared the values of syntactical features and the pedestrian flow by correlations and tried to discover a pattern between them. Finally, we suggest alternative design approaches that help to activate the abandoned open spaces, not as unused spaces but as sociable environments. Activating these spaces can benefit the urban area economically by attracting more pedestrians. These spaces can be converted into usable open areas that offer pedestrians a convenient place to gather and socialize. The expected benefit of this research is that it suggests alternatives to activate the abandoned open spaces by reorganizing the pedestrian flow around them. The limitation of this research is that it was conducted in one urban part of the city. For future research, conducting it in multiple and different textured parts of the city that contain different types of abandoned open spaces will be beneficial to discover a more consistent design approach to help us to understand the relations between abandoned open spaces and pedestrian flow.
