Bir İletişim Arayüzü Olarak Kent: iz Bırakma Ve Haritalama

Abstract

Çalışma, kenti bir ağlar bütünü olarak tanımlamakta ve enformasyon teknolojilerini bu ağlar bütününün bir parçası olarak ele almaktadır. İlk ulaşım ağlarından başlayarak bugünkü enformasyon ağlarına kadar uzanan gelişim sürecinde iletişim kurma ihtiyacı bu ağların şekillenmesinde önemli rol oynamıştır. Öte yandan mimari kenti şekillendiren en önemli katman olması sebebiyle bu ağlarla iç içedir ve tarih boyunca ‘mesaj verme’, ‘iletişim kurma’, ‘etkileşime girme’ mecrası olmuştur. Enformasyon teknolojilerinin çeşitlenip çevreyi sarmasıyla birlikte mimari, kent, kamusal alan, iletişim gibi kavramlar boyut değiştirmiş, ‘sanallık’ kavramı ortaya atılmış, kenti deneyimlemenin ve mimariyi yorumlamanın farklı yolları ortaya çıkmıştır. Enformasyon teknolojileri hem çevreye entegre olabilen araçlarıyla hem de mobil kullanılabilen araçlarıyla kamusal alanda var olmanın ve iletişim kurmanın, farklı enformasyon ağlarına müdahil olmanın çeşitli yöntemlerini sunmuştur. Kent sakinlerinin bu farklı deneyimleri yaşamalarını sağlayan, kentin/kentlerin üzerlerindeki görünmez ağlara dokunmalarını/etkileşim kurmalarını sağlayan tüm araçlar ‘arayüzler’ olarak tanımlanabilir. Bahsedilen bu dönüşümler kent-kamusal alan-teknolojik yenilikler-mimarlık-kullanıcılar arasında çapraz geri beslemelerle gelişen karmaşık bir gelişim süreci sergilemektedir. Çalışmada, çeşitli örnekler bahsedilen kent, ağ/ortam, iletişim/etkileşim, katman/arayüz eksenleri bağlamında ele alınarak hem bu eksenlerin tanımları yapılmaya, hem de ele alınan örneklerin bu tanımları nasıl dönüştürdüğü açıklanmaya çalışılacaktır. Çalışmanın ilk bölümünde konunun genel bir özeti oluşturulmaya çalışılmıştır. Çalışmanın ikinci bölümünde ”kent”in hangi bağlamda ele alınacağına dair bir çözümleme yapılmıştır. ”Kentsel Ağlar” başlıklı bu bölümde önce kentin en belirleyici bileşenlerinden olan ”Altyapı Sistemleri” ele alınacak, ardından bu sistemlerin katmanlaşması ve birbirleriyle etkileşim içinde bulunmaları ”Katmanlaşma” ve ”Ağlar” alt başlıkları ile incelenecek ve son olarak tüm bu sistemler, katmanlaşma ve ağlar ”Haritalar” alt başlığında ilişkilendirilecektir. ”Kentte Mimari Arayüzler: İletişim ve İkincil Katman” başlıklı üçüncü bölümde mimarlığın iletişim mecrası olması durumu ”Mimarlık ve İletişim” alt başlığı ile açıklanacak, mimari yüzeylerin bir arayüz oluşturması konusu ”Yüzey ve Yüz” ve ”Arayüz” alt başlıklarında örneklerle açıklanacak ve son olarak ”Katman” başlığı ile mimarinin üst üste binen arayüz katmanları ile bir iletişim mecrası olması durumu açıklanacaktır. Dördüncü ve son bölüm ”Kentte İzler ve Harita Katmanları” başlığını taşımaktadır. Bu bölümde kentin bireysel olarak deneyimlenmesi ve iletişim teknolojilerinin kullanılması konuları ele alınacaktır. Ilk olarak ”Bilgi ve Medya” alt başlığı ile kente eklenen enformasyon katmanı konu edilecektir. ”Etiket ve İz” alt başlığı kentte bu teknolojiler kullanılarak deneyimlerin –görünen ya da fiziksel olarak görünmeyip dijital izdüşümler bırakan izlerle- mekana aktarılması ve iliştirilmesi konusu örneklerle açıklanacaktır. ”Kapsülarizasyon” alt başlığı kentin görünmeyen sınırlarını konu etmektedir. ”Haritalama” alt başlığı tezin başından beri konu edilen, kentin deneyimlenmesi ve fiziksel ya da teknolojik araçlar ile bu deneyimin kentsel mekana görünen ya da fiziksel olarak görünmeyip dijital izdüşümler bırakan izlerle iliştirilmesi durumunun haritalanması ile kentsel mekanın yeni bir yorumunun yapılması durumunu ele almaktadır. Çalışma, ele alınan konunun değerlendirilip mimarlığın bu konu bağlamında nasıl yeni yorumlara açılabileceği tartışılarak bitirilecektir.

The basic purpose of this thesis is to study the city as a system of networks and as a communication interface. The urban infrastructure,which consists of utility networks and social networks, is the primary element shaping the system of networks. The information technologies, which play a major role in our daily life, are also a part of these networks. The information technologies, including the communication technologies, became a sort of a building material and altered the urban environment in recent years. The thesis dicusses this “new” urban environment as a communication tool and the interaction between the citizen and the city in consideration of some recent applications, installations and experiments utilizing these new technologies to interpret the city and the built environment. The study consists of five main sections. “Introduction”, “Urban Networks”, “Architectural Interfaces in the City: Communication and the Secondary Layer”, “Traces in the City and Layers of Maps” and “Evaluation and Discussion” are the main sections of the study. The first section of the study initiates by declaring the main concept and aim of the study and a brief summary is presented in this section. The second section of the study, which is entitled as “Urban Networks”, aims to describe the notion “city” as a network system under four parts: “Infrastructure Systems”, “Layering”, “Networks” and “Maps”. In the first part of the second section, which is entitled as “Infrastructure Systems”, the infrastructure systems are explored as the basic element shaping the city fabric. The infrastructure systems are basically composed of utility networks and social networks. Utility networks, which include the transportation and communication networks, can be considered as the initial given structures of the city fabric and their historical evolution is in a mutual relationship with the urban infrastructure. Social networks are constituted and defined by the citizens and they are also connected to the utility networks. It can be asserted that urban infrastructure is composed of different elements, which are constituted at different times with different intentions by different people, but which are still strongly and complexly interrelated with each other. The second part of this section, which is entitled as “Layering”, explores these layers of the urban fabric and discusses their relationship with each other and with the citizens. The third part of this section, which is entitled as “Networks”, initiates by exploring the notion “network” in a general sense. Taking the aspects mentioned in the first and the second part of this section into consideration, a network can be considered as a bunch of “layers” which are interconnected with each other and overlapped on each other. The urban infrastructure networks are also such networks. The networks shaped by the infrastructure systems are composed of “layers”, which sprawl over the world. All those “layers”, which were constituted throughout history, shape a network system. This network system is as complex as a labyrinth and can not be perceived at a glance. In order to visualize and grasp the whole system, maps can be used. The fourth and last part of this section, which is entitled as “Maps”, explores the visualization methods of these networks. In this part, the notion “map” and its evolution throughout the history is discussed. Maps are taken into consideration as a visualizing tool in order to grasp the networks sprawling over the city. All those networks expanding over the cities and the world became more and more complex throughout the last decades. Correspondingly, the analytic and simplifying approach of maps to the environment became more valuable and the usage of maps in daily life became widespread through the last decades. New technologies and digital maps allow the citizens to perceive the city from an aerial view and the citizens can play with the scale and point of view through the dynamic maps. The third section of the study, which is entitled as “Architectural Interfaces in the City: Communication and the Secondary Layer”, deals with the architecture and the city as a communication medium. This section consists of four parts: “Architecture and Communication”, “Surface and Face”, “Interface” and “Layer”. In the first part of the third section, which is entitled as “Architecture and Communication”, architecture and architectural practice are mentioned as communication media shaping the city. Architecture is the primary practice which composes the city and the built environment. In addition to that, architecture has always been a way of intellectual expression. Every architectural object and every element of an architectural object implies an implicit message and information about itself and about the society in which it was produced. Furthermore, every architectural object “lives” with the society and its environment and bears the traces of its life. The built environment –and every architectural object- basically consists of “surfaces” surrounding the citizens. The built environment is enriched by the “traces” on its surfaces. Every trace adds value and meaning to that object. It can be said that the built environment consist of “faces” with many different meanings. The second partof this section, which is entitled as “Surface and Face” interprets these notions. The third part of this section, which is entitled as “Interface”, deals with the notion “interface” both in a spatial and in a technological sense. The public space is a spatial interface, where different people with different demands can collide and interact with each other. The diversity of the users of public spaces makes the space alive. The fourth and the last part of this section, which is entitled as “Layer”, initiates by exploring the notion “connotation”. In this part, it is argued that the built environment is –metaphorically- composed of overlapping “layers” of “implicit meanings”. The built environment and every element of the built envionment is a information mediating surface. This “information” can be a film poster, a graffiti painted by a street artist or an uncomfortable urban furniture mediating the message “you can sit here, but you can not lie down”. This part explores some examples explaining the notion “layer” as a figurative element of the built environment, which mediates implicit information. The fourth section of the study, which is entitled as “Traces in the City and Layers of Maps”, aims to declare the association of the notions “the invisible infrastructure systems”, “urban network systems” and “the city as a communication interface”, which were mentioned in the second and the third sections of the study. In this section, new technologies surrounding and surfacing the built environment are discussed through current examples. This section consists of four parts: “Information and Media”, “Tag and Trace”, “Capsularisation” and “Mapping”. The first part of the fourth section, which is entitled as “Information and Media”, initiates by exploring the characteristics of the new information flows in the built environment and the city. In this part, the notions “implicit information” and “layer” mentioned in the fourth part of the third section, “Layer”, are discussed more thoroughly. Embedding information into the building material and into the built environment is actually not a very new phenomenon. Every architectural object and every architectural practice involves an implicit information and meaning. But embedding information into the building material and into the built environment through technological devices is a considerably new phenomenon for the citizens allowing them to experience te city in a new way. The second part of this section, which is entitled as “Tag and Trace” sets sight on these new technologies and the new perspectives they provide to the citizens by exploring recent applications, installations and experiments about them. In this part, the daily examples of attaching and embedding general or personal information into the built environment (“tagging a place”) are discussed. The personal experience of a citizen is widely affected by these developments. A citizen can “tag” a point or a space in the city by using these technologies and share his/her experiences about that location in the “invisible layer of the city”. The third partof this section, which is entitled as “Capsularization” basically focuses on the other side of the coin. The notion “Capsularization” is a concept initially suggested by Kisho Kurokawa in his essay “Capsule Declaration” (1969). Lieven De Cauter borrows his notion and focuses in his book “The Capsular Civilization: On the City in the Age of Fear” (2004) on that topic. According to Lieven De Cauter, the new technologies surfacing the built environment and providing the citizens to attach their personal experiences and suggestions to the city fabric are also alienating and isolating them from the world. In De Cauter’s opinion these technologies are putting the citizens behind a screen or in a capsule, where they are isolated from the real wold. The citizens may leave traces on the invisible layer of the city by using these technologies voluntarily; but there are also traces they leave without noticing and these traces may be stored for bad purposes. This situation should be considered critically while studying the new technologies embedded in the built environment and exploring the city and the built environment as a communication and interaction medium. The fourth and last part of this section, which is entitled as “Mapping”, continues to explore the notion “map” which is discussed in the second section of the study; but in this part “mapping” is mentioned as an active practice. It is suggested that the passive role of the map is supplanted by the active, quick-responding and dynamic maps created by the new technologies. The “tags” and “traces” which can be attached to the location, to a surface in the built environment or into a digital projection of the city (a digital map of the city) can be stored as soft data about the city and the citizens. This information can be composed as a visual expression through mapping. New technologies provide a platform where a simultaneous tracking and mapping can be done. The fifth and last part of the study is entitled as “Evaluation and Discussion” and is a summary and discussion of the whole concept, where the notions “communication”, “ information”, “interaction”, “interface” and “ the invisible urban network systems” are discussed in association with architecture, city and the experiences of the citizens.