Üsküp Kent Merkezinin Tarihsel Doku Değişimi Ve ‘üsküp 2014’ Projesi

Abstract

Balkanlar, tarih boyunca kendine özgü coğrafyası ve nüfusunda muhteva ettiği farklı etnik kökenler sebebiyle Avrupa’nın en istikrarsız bölgelerinden biri olmuştur. Jeopolitik ve jeostratejik konumundan dolayı çok farklı devletlerin hükmü altına girmiş olan Üsküp, boyunduruğunda bulunduğu her devletin politik, ekonomik, kültürel etkisi ile değişmiş ve gelişmiştir. Bu evrelerin bazılarının izi bugün hala şehir dokusunda gözle görülebilir durumda olsa da büyük bir çoğunluğu siyasi sebeplerle ve sel, yangın ve deprem gibi doğal afetlerle silinmiştir. Şehir günümüze kadar pek çok dinamik tarafından değiştirilmiş ama bunların en kuvvetlisi 1963 yılındaki deprem olmuştur. 1963 depreminde şehrin %80’i zarar görmüş fakat şehir, soğuk savaş yıllarında tüm dünyanın yardım gönderdiği adeta bir dayanışma şehri olmuş ve yararlarını sarmayı başarmıştır. 1965 yılında yapılan kent merkezinin planlanmasına ilişkin yarışma ile Üsküp, çağdaş bir anlayışıyla yeniden şekillenmeye başlamıştır. Şehre daha çok sosyalist mimari hâkim olmuş ve brütalist yapılar, konut blokları, yıkılan binaların yerlerini almıştır. Bu süre zarfında şehrin nüfusu dramatik bir biçimde artmış ve şehir Vodno Dağının eteklerine doğru genişleme göstermiştir. Şehirdeki bu nüfus artışı sadece planlama sürecini değil kentin yapısını da etkilemiştir. Neticesinde ise şehir kontrolsüz bir büyüme ve yapılaşma evresine girmiştir. Üsküp’ün bu dönüşümü uzun ve sancılı bir süreç olmakla beraber, şehrin tarihi siluetine de etki etmiştir. Vardar nehrinin kuzey yakası Osmanlı izlerinin taşımaya devam ederken güney yakası modern ve Avrupai bir kent olma yolunda ilerlemiştir. Özellikle günümüzde değişen yönetim anlayışı ve politikaları sebebiyle Üsküp, aslında hiç de ihtiyaç duymadığı bir görünüme sokulmaya çalışılmaktadır. Şehirde gözle görülür bir gerginlik yaratan Üsküp 2014 Projesi, yapılı çevrenin kalitesinde bozulmaya sebep olmakla birlikte, kenti ait olmadığı bir görüntünün içine yerleştirmektedir. 1960‘lı yıllarda Kenzo Tange’nin gökyüzünde aradığı füturistik Üsküp şehri, bugün kimliğini toprak altında arayıp hiç var olmamış bir dönemin stiliyle antikleşme çalışması gayretindedir. Topraklarındaki İslami ve sosyalist eserler ve planlama pratikleriyle şehircilik tarihinin adeta yaşayan bir örneği olan Üsküp’ün, bu tez kapsamında Osmanlı Devleti döneminden günümüze kadar geçirdiği kentsel ve sosyolojik değişimi mercek altına alınacaktır. Aynı zamanda Üsküp 2014 kapsamında devam etmekte olan spekülatif projeler incelenip tüm veriler ışığında, günümüz Üsküp’ünün, tarihi dokusuyla olan uyum/uyumsuzluğu ve geçmişle olan/kopan bağları araştırılıp şehrin kentsel tasarım tarihi kronolojik olarak ele alınacaktır.

Throughout the history, Balkans has always been one of the most volatile region of Europe by reason of its original geography and multi-ethnicity. Skopje, where had been occupied by numerous different states hence its geopolitical and geostrategical location, has been reshaped and developed by the political, economical and cultural effect of all these mentioned countries. Although most of the traces of these domination periods had been vanished due to political issues and naturel disasters like floods, fire and earthquakes, today some of the remainings are still observable on urban pattern. Balkans showed a diverse and fragmented form of society in 14th century due to social, economical, political aspect and conflicts among cristian churches. Following the appearance of Ottomans in Balkans, there was stability and a feeling of confidence in govermental authority. Through 500 years, Balkans was sculptered by Ottoman influence both culturally and urbanly and it is still possible to see these traces of Ottoman urbanism in the present time. Until the conquest of Istanbul, some Rumelian cities such as Skopje, Bitola, Prizren, Thessaloniki and Belgrade had been centers of culture of Ottoman Empire. Therefore, similar urban landscaping are shown between the characteristics of Ottoman construction and Balkans. The affect of Ottomans on Balkans can easily be interpreted from the neighbourhood organisations, formation of structures in plan-volume relation, materials and technics of decoration. Developed as in the form of a traditional city under Ottoman ruling, Skopje was settled mostly on the north bank of river Vardar until the year of 1914. Skopje with its narrow and organical streets consequent with the topography reflects the fundamentals of Ottoman urban formation. Old Bazaar which growed closed to the fortress and marketing areas identified with the bazaar still exist today. Old bazaar is composed by sequently attached workshops in which many kinds of craftmanship performed. Among structures that defines the effect of Ottoman architecture on the city formation Murat Paşa Camii, Davut Paşa Hamamı, Sulu Han, Kurşunlu Han can be listed. Also the Bridge of Fatih Sultan Mehmet which is one of the symbols of Skopje city is between the works of Ottoman Empire which has survived. The city was reformed under different planning perspectives after it was deserted by Ottoman Empire. First of these reforms was prepared by Dimitrija Leko in 1914. This plan carried apparent effects of Froster’s Vienna adopting uniterian city model and the city began to expand towards the south axis for the first time. Second plan supervised by Joseph Mihajlovic had started in 1927 and got officialized in 1929. The plan of 1929 brought the city a more formal and geometrical pattern under the effects of Paris plan of Haussmann and Howard’s plan of garden cities of tomorrow. In this plan, the core of the city center was surrounded by residential areas as a ring. On the other hand remaining parts of the city were generally had the garden city consept. The most significant part of this plan was its proposal of two squares connected by historical Stone Bridge. Aftermath of The World War II created new realities for Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia. 1948 plan which had the title of being the first ever plan after the World War II was designed by Ludek Kubes. It was based on the ideology of tabular asa and showed effects of radiant city model of Le Corbusier. In this plan, urban areas such as residential, industrial, service, green zone etc. were divided according to their functions. Public and municipal buildings were dominant elements of the city. Additionally, an east-west axised progress was presented fort he city. Until today, the city has been modified by a great deal of dynamics but the most powerful of all was the eartquake in 1963. 80% of the city was damaged by this eartquake, however the city became a union of solidarity which was supported from all around the world during the cold war and succeeded to heal its wounds. After a competition held in 1965 for the planning of city center, Skopje began to be reshaped by a futuristic perspective. United Nations organised this competition for the reconstruction of city center in order to recover the effects of destructive earthquake. 4 local and 4 foreign architectural group applied to the competition and 3/5 of the prize went to Japan architect Kenzo Tange and his group while 2/5 of it shared by Radovan Mišćević & Fedor Wrenzler. There were two metaphoric components of this collaboratively designed plan. One of these components was the city gate and the other was the city wall. They were the main two motives of Kenzo Tange’s plan. The city core was meant to be surrounded by city walls which consisted by residential blocks. The important purpose of this approach was to protect the historical pattern inside the city center. The use of city gate on the other hand was to create a crrossing point for all road axises reaching the city. By the help of this multilayered design, functions as railroads and highways were gathered but concluded in different levels. In the plan officialized in 1965, the river Vardar was used as a uniting element. Moreover, it presented a constructive idea in such cases; preventing spoiling of the settlement of Kale hill with multi storied buildings, integration of old bazaar area with the city center and avoid it to become a museum like place. Following this plan, socialist architecture dominated the city and brutalist structures, residential blocks had taken the places of demolished buildings. Since the day of earthquake population of the city growed dramatically and urban area showed an expansion heading for Mount Vodno. Not only the planning phase but also the morphology of the city were affected by this population growth in Skopje. Consequently, the city entered an era of uncontrolled development and structuring stage. The transition Skopje had undergone was a long and difficult process and influenced the historical siluet of the city as well. When the north bank of Vardar continued to carry the marks of Ottoman Empire, the south bank moved on to become a modern and european city. Since the change in governing mentality and politics particularly at the present time, Skopje is beeing forced to be put in an appearance which it does not require at all. Skopje 2014 project publicized in 2010 and aimed to change the historical pattern of city center and turn it into something different. By numerous statues, public buildings, bridges, cultural structures and facade designs the city has undertaken an extensive urban regeneration. Eventhough the purpose of the project was described as integration to European Union and establishment of national identity, it was highly discussed due to some insufficiencies and criticised in academic platforms. Some of the arguments as an example of these criticized insufficiencies are as; lack of urban functionality, intransparent public purchases, misplanned investment policies, ethnicity related identity problem and lack of public opinion on the project. As having a multicultured social structure, the subject of reconstruction of Skopje city requires detailed and long examinations and researches. Rapidly evolving city center, all the statues added up on main square and buildings with changing style created a spatial alienation within the population of the city. Along with these effects, the project also resulted in social and spatial disintegration, loss of urban memory, impair investment of state money and misrepresentation of national identity. Recent crisis which creates an observable tension among the city not only causes disruption upon the quality of built environment but also puts the city in an image it does not belong. Today, the futuristic city of Skopje that Kenzo Tange had searched for in the sky in the 1960’s is in an effort of antiquisation in a style which never existed by searching its identity underground the earth. Within the scope of this thesis, structured interview method is applied to analyze how much the Skopje 2014 project is adopted by public and evaluate the success of the project. For that purpose, according to the rate of distribution of ethnicity in population, interviews were made with 50 people and they were asked to answer questions related with Macedonia, Skopje and Skopje 2014 project. Given answers are evaluated within the thesis study. As a living example of planning history by its Islamic and socialist monuments and planning practises, Skopje will be examined from the Ottoman Empire period to present day by means of morphological and social modifications within the scope of this very thesis. Furtherly, the speculative projects going on as part of Skopje 2014 will be analyzed and in the light of all information the compatibility/noncompatibility also the connection/inconnection between present day Skopje and its historical pattern will be researched thus the chronological history of urban design of the city will be discussed.