An Exploration of Urban Soundscape in Ulus, Ankara

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Mimarlık, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2019

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Öğrenci: NEHİR BERA BİÇER

Danışman: Fatma Cânâ Bilsel

Özet:

The relation between human beings and environment in perception of space has been a long-standing research interest in environment and behaviour studies. Human perception of space is a process that includes senses to assign the related urban setting a meaning. Establishing a subjective urban imagery, spatial experience is a multisensory process, which allows different senses to jointly trigger each other. However, there has been an abundance of attention on visual perception, which results in the hegemony of vision in the field of architecture. The thesis problematizes the aforementioned single sensory approach by placing the main focus on the underestimated potentials of the sense of hearing. Sound is a powerful associative medium to denote space, time and memory in urban context, which makes the sound an integrated and inseparable input within urban environments. That is why; the thesis draws attention to the need of an urgent sonic awareness in urban context to build an embodied and enmeshed spatial experience. The thesis aims to explore dynamic urban trajectories from an alternative sonic perspective. Therefore, the notion of soundscape as an interwoven feature within urban context is introduced and exploited. The soundscape of the world is changing; thus, the thesis intends to map subjective soundscape interpretation and document the changes in the sonic behavior of individuals within spatiotemporal dynamics of urban environments. In this scope, Ulus that is the historical center of Ankara, is selected due to its rich and diverse acoustic content which is under the risk of substitution, suppression or disappearance resulting from the transformation process. The case is specified as a soundwalk following Anafartalar Street, Hal Street, Tenekeciler Street, Çıkrıkçılar Yokusu, Koyun Pazarı Street and At Pazarı Street.