Urban Transformation and Identity in Samsun, Turkey: A Future Outlook

Abstract

In the last few decades, the increasing urban population and heterogeneous quality, the expansion of urban areas, the intensification of developments within existing cities, the continued proliferation of the high rise and other intensive building types, the deterioration of both natural and cultural resources, and the results of the recent struggles for international capital as secure and favorite places has been threatening the image and identity of cities more than ever. In this context, the concepts of transformation and identity, which in turn reflect on urban sustainability, need to be reintegrated into the agenda of planners and designers. As cities are always changing and evolving in response to social, economic and political forces, the urban environment has to be considered in a time-based perspective identifying the changes in the local context. In line with these, this paper searches for urban identity in the case of Samsun, a symbolic city which has played an important role on the development of modern Turkey, where transformations are dramatic. As the general understanding and the majority of the literature have been restricted to the perspective of form and other physical issues, and neglected to consider the social dimension of environment, which in turn brings about standardized 'urban design guide' or 'make-up' type solutions, this will enable the paper to have a holistic framework dealing with all aspects of transformation and provide the reader with a broad-based and innovative perspective towards the vision of cities with place identity.