Placemaking experiences via mobile applications: Case of Levent Mquare, İstanbul

Abstract

Urban public spaces, crucial for communal well-being, have historically served diverse functions, evolving alongside technological advancements and urbanization. However, accelerated urban growth, coupled with factors such as industrialization and increased vehicular usage, has precipitated the decline of these spaces ending up being lost spaces. For such spaces, placemaking emerges as a solution, emphasizing community engagement and user-centric design to revitalize lost spaces and cultivate vibrant, inclusive urban environments. The thesis aims to explore methods for enhancing the usability and functionality of public spaces, particularly focusing on addressing the needs of their primary users, the public. It seeks to develop a model that integrates user experience and participation with technological innovations to guide designers and facilitators in maintaining public spaces. The central question revolves around whether placemaking methods can be optimized through a mobile application, enabling visualization of user preferences and opinions for revitalizing lost spaces. Additionally, the study delves into understanding the transformation of public spaces into lost spaces, strategies for reclaiming such spaces, and the role of timely data updates and digital methods in improving space functionality. Consequently, an extensive literature review has been conducted, revealing detailed information on concepts such as space, place, public space, lost space, placemaking, user experience, user participation, and digitalization. The historical trajectory of public spaces is explored, tracing their evolution from pivotal meeting places in ancient civilizations to their transformation into structures and parking lots during the industrialization era. The significance of public spaces gained renewed attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting a reconsideration of their role in urban life. Placemaking emerges as a transformative strategy, especially through models like Project for Public Spaces (PPS), emphasizing the active involvement of users and a focus on user experience. A pivotal proposal within the thesis is the development and implementation of the "Make-Place" mobile application, positioned as a technological solution to engage users in the placemaking process. This application adopts a user-centric design, aligning with principles of service design, usability, and interface design. It envisions a dynamic interaction between people and their environments, ensuring the effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction of a seamless and gratifying user experience and participation. Research and analyses on Levent Square, identified as a lost space, indicate the need for its reassessment. Aligned with the thesis's objectives, a significant tool predicted to be within a model that leverages user experience and participatory design is the developed "Make-Place" mobile application interface. For the moment, the app met with the participants through a survey, asking their user profile and design principles. It is considered that advocating for decisions to be informed by the observations of pedestrian and vehicular movements in public spaces, especially in dense urban contexts where movement towards a goal is prevalent, professional decisions should be created in alternative scenarios. This necessitates seeking user opinions through the application to ensure their input. Survey results, analyses, and observations contribute to a placemaking proposal for Levent Square. In this study prioritizing high levels of user experience and participation, a functional space that accommodates cumulative perspectives of participants is created. However, considering participatory feedback, the development of multiple alternative scenarios is feasible. Additionally, results indicate a high willingness among individuals to use the "Make-Place" application if implemented. The "Make-Place" application, as an integral part of the proposed methodology, transcends the immediate redesign of Levent Square. It envisions continual user engagement, data collection, and feedback mechanisms. Findings underscore that lost spaces can be reclaimed through placemaking, emphasizing the significance of user opinions and pedestrian mobility in shaping public spaces. Future studies proposed in the thesis envisage an expanded role for the "Make-Place" application. Its potential as a platform for visualizing proposed redesigns, allowing spatial expression of emotions, reporting issues, and engaging with community events reflects a comprehensive approach to fostering a sense of place and community in urban environments. The envisioned growth of the application into a neighborhood social media platform underscores its potential to bridge the physical and virtual realms of community interaction. In conclusion, the thesis not only advocates for the transformative power of placemaking but also proposes a practical tool, the "Make-Place" mobile application, to facilitate ongoing user engagement, data-driven decision-making, and the dynamic evolution of public spaces. This multi-faceted approach holds promise in addressing the challenges posed by lost spaces and underscores the thesis's contribution to advancing the discourse on user-centered urban design.