Exploring lost spaces towards regaining them for urban life: The case of Konya historical city center

Abstract

The functions, values, and meanings of cities, which have been in constant change and transformation throughout history, are changing in response to rapidly changing conditions, particularly in recent times. The areas where this change can be observed most concretely are generally urban spaces. Some places in the city, which cannot keep up with this speed, may lose their structural or functional use over time and remain idle when they are not fed or equipped with suitable activities that will integrate with the environmental character and bring vitality. Therefore, within the very valuable urban land, they may become lost spaces for the city. It seems very important to regain such spaces in the rhythm of daily urban life, considering that they have strong economic, social, and physical potential, as well as being lost. From this point of view, the aim of the study is to identify the lost spaces in the historical city center of Konya, which was chosen as the sample area, and to identify the urban space(s) that should be intervened in with priority among the identified lost spaces. The Trancik method was used to find the lost spaces in the area using detailed analysis. With the help of figure-ground, linkage, and place theories in Roger Trancik's book titled Finding Lost Space: Theories of Urban Design (1986), both morphological analyses (figure-ground and linkage analyses) and questionnaires and cognitive maps were used to understand place and measure its perceptibility. The research to understand the place was carried out with a total of 50 people using the random sampling technique. Then, within the scope of the study, all the findings obtained from figure-ground, linkage, and place analyses were synthesized, and all lost spaces within the sample area were determined. Among these identified lost spaces, Kılıçarslan Square and its environs were determined to be the most undetected, unused, disliked, and first intervention requested by the participants. This result underlines the necessity of saving an important public space in the heart of the city from its current transition space and using it more effectively through scientific evidence. This result underlines the necessity of saving an important public space in the heart of the city from its current transition space and using it more effectively through scientific evidence. With its effective use, the area will be reintroduced to the city.