Kentsel Dönüşüm Boyutları-barselona’da Raval Bölgesi Örneği

Abstract

Kentlerde değişime ayak uyduramayan bölgelerde planlama, yapılaşma, alt yapı hizmetleri, sağlık hizmetleri, dengeli ekonomi ve sosyal sınıflandırmada bozulmalar ortaya çıkmakta; sağlıksızlaşma, çevre kirliliği, çöküntüler, sosyal ve ekonomik açıdan dışlanmışlıklar ile karşı karşıya olan bir bölge haline gelmeye başlamaktadır. “Kentsel dönüşüm”, özgün kimliğini ve değerini kaybeden bu gibi bölgelere fiziki, ekonomik, toplumsal ve çevresel boyutlarda müdahalede bulunarak iyileştirme, canlandırma ve geliştirme ile ilgilenen bir kavramdır. Amaçlarda çevreyi düzenlemek, bölgenin çevresinden kopuk kalmasını engelleyici düzenlemeleri yapmak, ulaşım ağlarını güçlendirmek, konutları ve yerleşim koşullarını iyileştirmek, eğitim, sağlık ve iş olanaklarını artırmak, toplumsal ve bireysel katılımın sağlanması gibi öncelikler yer almaktadır. Böylelikle mahalleler arası fiziki, sosyal ve ekonomik farklılıkların azaltılması ile toplumsal bütünleşmenin sağlanması, yapı yoğunluğunun azaltılması ile çevresel kalitenin artırılması sağlanmaktadır. Tarihi mekanlar, birçok medeniyete ev sahipliği yapmış ve zamanla çöküntü sürecine girmişlerdir. Günümüzde bu tarihi mekanlarda nasıl geri kazanım sağlanacağı hakkında çalışmalar yapılmaktadır. Barselona’da bulunan Raval Bölgesi’nin tarihi çok eskilere dayanmaktadır. Tarihten miras kalan ana halterlerin çevrelediği dar sokak dokusu, konut binaları, yönetim binaları ve meydanları, dini ve sosyal tesisler, bölgeyi çevreleyen tarihi surlar bölgenin günümüzdeki mimari dokusunu belirlemektedir. Ancak bölge zaman içinde şehrin içinde bulunduğu ekonomik etkenler, aldığı göçün etkisi ve şehrin gelişme ivmesi kuzeydeki yeni kısmında arttığından dolayı bu tarihi dokuda bozulmalar meydana gelmiştir. Kentsel dönüşüm sürecinin en önemli farklılığı ve özelliklerinden birisi katılım modelinin çok aktörlü olmasıdır. Sürece önderlik yapan siyasi birimler ve yatırımlara destek olan özel sektörün yanı sıra projeleri gerçekleştiren mimarlar ve plancıların, aynı zamanda yerel halkın da katılımcı olarak söz sahibi olması önemlidir. Çalışma dört bölüme ayrılmıştır: İlk bölümde kentsel dönüşüm kavramının temellerini oluşturmuş kente müdahaleye dair ilk yöntemlerin içeriği, tarihsel süreci ve örnekleri yer almaktadır. Böylelikle kentsel dönüşüm kavramının doğuşuna kadar olan gelişim anlatılmış olur. İkinci bölümde ise kentsel dönüşüm kavramı yakından incelenmiştir; tanımı, amaçları, süreçte izlenmesi gereken ilkeler, katılım modelleri, hazırlık aşamasında yapılması gerekenler, uygulama aşamasında yapılması gerekenler. Üçüncü bölümde ise Barselona Kenti’nin, kentteki tarihi alanı kapsayan Ciutat Vella Bölgesi ve bölgenin en sorunlu bölümü Raval Bölgesi’nin tarihini, kentsel çöküşe sürükleyen etkenlerini ve bugünü araştırılmıştır. Dördüncü bölümde Raval Bölgesi Kentsel Dönüşüm Projesi Politik Boyut, Mimari Boyut ve Kullanıcı Boyutu grupları altında incelenmiş, analizleri yapılmıştır. Son bölümde ise dönüşüm projesinin sonuçları ortaya çıkarılmış, her boyut kendi bağlamında değerlendirilmiştir.

Cities in different geograpies are the containers of social relationships and economic, political and cultural systems. This containers are reshaped and changed by its own society whose history, religion, race, culture, architecture and life styles are common and at the same particular to each specific container. Cities are in a continuous process of evolution through the factors that influence them: wars, economic crisis, epidemics, economic and technological developments, revolutions and reforms.The transformation of cities according to its evolution cycle can have some regions that lose their urban value. This areas are deprived of proper infrastructure and health services,organized planning, healthy environment, balanced economy and equal social stratums. The urban areas which are not able to adapt to the changes produced by the city dynamics undergo deteriorations in the built-on areas and in the infrastructure and facilites. This areas are faced with social and economic collapse and a process of exclusion and marginality. The society hasevolutioning social, cultural and economic dimensions of the physical structure. The city has to respond to this demands and become a new kind of entity that can respond to this changes. Throughout history, the urban intervention methods such as Urban Clearance, Revitalization, Gentrification, Urban Improvement/Rehabilitation, Urban Renewal/ Renovation, Redevelopment and, finally nowadays, Urban Regeneration have emerged as concepts and developed. The first foundations of the concept of urban transformation started in the early 19th century. Urban regeneration is a concept that deals with the rehabilitation, revitalitation and redevelopment of this kind of areas which lost its original identity and value. This processaffects their physical, economical, social and environmental dimensions. The physical structure and infrastructure conditions of historical parts of a city are generally neglected due to the rapid development of the contemporary cities. However, this areas have often a very valuable central location in the city, as they have usually grown around the ancient borders or walls of the city. The Raval District in Barcelona is a great exponent of this process. This area islocated in the center of this Mediterranean city inside the remains of the Roman walls. It has a narrow streets pattern, historical residential buildings, public administration buildings, squares, religious and social facilities that still define today s urban network. However, as time went on this historical region suffered from urban decay, a process whereby this part of the city fell into disrepair and decrepitude as a result of a combination of inter-related socio-economic conditions. The application of an urban transformation to the Raval District, which was known as one of the city s most closed, marginal and dangerous areas throughout history, aimedto re-organize the area, increase the public spaces, and provide the necesary arrangements in order to prevent the disconnection between this area and its surrounding. The steps taken involved, among others, strengthening transport networks, improving the housing stock and the conditions of the buildings, and bring social housing, and cultural facilities. Thus, this was intended to be achieved by reducing the density of the structure and augment the public cohesion between neighborhoods to reduce physical, social, and economic disparities. One of the features of the urban transformation process and the most important difference from other methods is that is a model that involves multiple actors that contribute to it. In this process several voices participate: the political units engaged in leadership, the private sector with its investment, the architects and planners designing the projects, as well as the local community are important actors in the regeneration process. The urban transformation as an urban planning tool, should meet accurate analysis, organization, planning, implementation, monitoring and management skills in order to be able to achieve this comprehensive action plan. This study is divided into seven chapters: After an introduction to the main subject in the first chapter, the second chapter features examples of previous urban intervention methods with their historical process. This content is the base for this particular urban regeneration concept. The description of the development of the former methods until the emergence of a new urban regeneration method its key to understand the application of this method. In the third chapter, the concept of urban regeneration is closely examined: definition, objectives, participation models, preparation phase, implementation phase, and principles to be followed in the process. In the fourth chapter, the Barcelona s historic district known as Ciutat Vella and its most problematic area, the Raval District, is investigated through its history, and the factors that led to its urban collapse and pre-regeneration state. In the fifth chapter, the Raval District Urban Regeneration Project is examined within three aspects: the Political Aspect, the Architectural Aspect and the Users Aspect and an analysis of how they were conducted. The sixth chapter features the findings for each aspect of the regeneration project in the Raval District and its evaluation according to each scale in its context. The last chapter discusses the final results of the thesis case study. Among the actors of this process, the leading participant of the urban regeneration process is: the local municipality voted by the society . This is the kind of participant that starts the process of the regeneration, organizes, finances and controls it, and will be examined under Political Scale . In the political scale; with the help of literature survey, the urban transformation project, the political strategies, plans, programs and content; enacted laws, social and cultural services which are required; the model of participation and participants and financing denominators are examined. As the second participant: Architects and planners that shape the city : This is the kind of participant that carry through the decisions taken at the Political Scale to real physical entities and give shape and life to society’s expectations. It is examined under Architectural Scale”: buildings that are designed by architects and urban planners within the regeneration project will be discussed. According to the data obtained from official sources, regenerated public buildings are shown on the map according to the used urbanistic methods: Urban Clearance, Revitalization and Redevelopment and also according to its new service area. The location of the buildings are shown on the city map, where regeneration methods and distributions of the service facilities and their percentages are compared. From the list, 16 of the most important buildings are chosen and examined as architectural project landmarks. “Users, public”: The residents of the area that experience the physical change in social and cultural terms, are not only the users but also the participants in the process of urban transformation. In the User Scale , participants who make an assessment of the results are examined. In the ideal urban regeneration scenario, participants should be involved in the whole process. By achieving this, the regeneration in the area won t force the previous residents to leave the area. In the Raval District Urban Regeneration Project, the participation of current residents, the situation at the end of the process, the new residents drawn to the area or the other residents unexpectedly emigrated is examined. Due to the nature of multiple actors, a fieldwork was conducted in order to determine whether the local people participated enough in the process of planning and implementation in the urban regeneration. This questionnaire refers to the degrees that will enable us to group the levels of building s old-new awareness, reasons and frequency of use of the buildings and its surroundings, the feeling of security in the neighborhood, usage habits or difficulties and changes that they observed in the region. Thus, it can be measured how much the user is integrated to the change and responds to it whether determining if such regeneration was a social success or not. To sum up, it will be examined what are the advantages or problemsthat raises the changing dynamics that have emerged within the urban regeneration project.In this case study an examination of the methods to manage the operation of the urban regeneration process, parameters and dynamics analysis is conducted.This analysis helps to develop and explore the depth of this urban regeneration process. Studying the benefits of the samples can be a reference toimprove the new global urban transformation projects of the next generations.