Urban Edges

This article intends to question changing spatiality and position of the “urban edge” in expanding cities, and argues its spatial manifestation as an “urban fissure”. The term “edge”, which basically refers to the end line between two opposing milieus, became redundant in the expanded urban surface; and necessitates a critical review through a new concept. Edge, demarcating the communication/interaction line between two milieus, acts also as a “productive frontier” and generates an edgescape that subsequently appears as urban fissure in the expanded city. The Istanbul Land Walls, with their immense size and multi-layered spatiality, present a unique case in the search for urban fissure. The triple defense architecture of the Land Walls forms a complex system, composed of open and enclosed spaces: inner wall, outer wall, moat, terraces between the walls, towers and gates. Besides their architecture, the Land Walls have also triggered the generation of edge spaces on and around them: gates, Byzantine Imperial Palaces, Yedikule Fortress, bostans, cemeteries, sacred spaces, industrial sites, circulation infrastructure, recreational areas and neighborhoods. The coexistence of these spaces has formed a mural zone that has been molded by spatial removals, impositions or superimpositions throughout the course of the history. In this respect, the mural zone might be identified as a challenging ground, having diverse representations in different times: the material expression of the territorial defense for centuries, derelict defense architecture in Ottoman Istanbul, a ruined edgescape in the 19th century; an urban wilderness in the 1950s, and an urban interstice by 1980s. Especially after the 1980s, an increased number of (inter)national efforts/regulations/ planning attempts, informal occupancies and spatial removals/injections, have highly influenced the spatiality of the mural zone that ended up with spatial fragmentation, over-programming, and razed characteristic landscape fabric. To this purpose, this article discusses the multi-scaled and multi-layered spatiality and landscape of the mural zone through an integrated historical and conceptual reading that will present the mural zone as an urban fissure. Such analysis will reveal currently endangered spaces and landscape memories in the mural zone, and will liberate mural zone from over-programmed urban and landscape scenarios.

The essay explores the difficult question of how to build meaningful architecture above, beneath, and along leftover transportation spaces.  Historically overlooked, these “found” sites are familiar, yet alien, pervasive but atypical; as such, they call for innovative formal and programmatic approaches.  The three projects by Crisman+Petrus Architects discussed in the essay carefully intertwine physical form and spatial strategy with social, environmental, and political concerns.  Each is shaped by the unique demands of its site rather than by any preconceived design agenda.

This study explores centuries-long spatial patterns along the old city walls of Istanbul-Land Walls. Being the edge of / in the city since the 5 th century, Land Walls and their near surrounding have been occupied by particular spaces and types. Unlike the complicated urban history and enormous urban implementations, some of these spaces and patterns have transmitted for centuries in the urban fabric of Istanbul. In spite of recent plans, projects and regulations that intend to domesticate the mural  landscape, the sacred places, cemeteries, bostans and flow spaces still characterize the inherited landscape along the Land Walls.

The following research investigates mixed-use built environment within its natural settings. With the help of qualitative methods I search for relations between the idea of Urban Renaissance, which promotes small-scale and mixed-use environment as seen in traditional European cities, and the social life in the city. In the course of the study I found interdependency between those two concepts as the mixed use is produced to serve certain social and economical needs on the same time as it supports these needs. The complexity of this relation involves also other elements to hold the model together like habits, desires, urban rituals, will, private and public interests and so forth.
The subject of the wider study is the city of Patras, Greece where I have observed the mixed use at all its levels, from a city level to the small urban furniture, as well as the public and private spaces and the kinds of spaces in-between. These spaces overlap their territories creating multiple relations in connection with social life.
In this study, I have chosen to focus on explaining the flexibility of the different territories and how the limits form and function. Together with the empirical explanations, the analysis has the task to decode the social meaning of the phenomenon. This research has the purpose to give a base for further studies through spatial mapping.

Medium-sized cities are common in Brazil and are responsible for the local regional development of their areas. The fast development of these cities generates urban territorial expansion and the substitution of natural landscapes for urban ones. That is, productive land is substituted for urban developments. A similar phenomenon has been happening in New Zealand in the last 15 years, where farms located close to cities have recently become urbanized. The main objective is to compare and analyse the cities’ edges and the interface between urban and rural environments, based upon socio-cultural, political and economic values. Both cultural urban landscapes studied in this article have specific characteristics. This paper explores the conceptual differences of urban fabric in both cities and discusses principles that should be respected in urban landscape design to achieve urban forms that respect the local cultures.