ankara has lost its valleys, orchards,
DESCRIPTION
Paper Presented at "Summer School: Atatürk Model Farm", by Gazi University, International Summer School 2005, Gazi University Faculty of Engineering and Architecture Department of City and Regional Planning, AnkaraTRANSCRIPT
Gazi University Faculty of Engineering & Architecture
Departmentof
Urban & Regional Planning
INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL
Ankara, TURKEY, 13-17 June 2005
“ANKARA”
The City Longing For It's Environment
By Mehmet Tuncer Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Ancyra, Angora, Ankara,
HARMONY OF PAST AND CONTEMPORARY NATURAL &
URBAN ENVIRONMENT
Modern Capital of Turkey
seven million inhabitant are projected for
2020
BUT :
Ankara: lost its valleys, orchards, rivers
and streams part of its historical environment
(1711) Gravure of Pitton Tourneford
In 1839; Angora was walled small town
ANGORA : AT THE END OF 19TH CENTURY
Today, the heritage of Atatürk, Atatürk Orman Çiftliği,
one of the important “ecological protection zones”; Imrahor Valley,
Eymir and Mogan Lakes,
Eymir-Mogan Water Basins
IMRAHORVALLEY
Last lakes and valleys need to preserve as an
ecological system!
Mogan, Eymir Lakes, Cubuk Dam and Imrahor Valley are under the thread of pollution from
highways and urban, industrial wastes
Result of water pollution: deaths of fishes
Mogan & Eymir Lakes environmental problems and potantial pollution sources
basin of the Cubuk, Ankara River and fertile lands in west,
on the Istanbul Road to the Kazan, Elmadağ where famous
for skiing facilities are under threat.
There is a considerable pressure on historic core
Orchards:
Valleys, hills of Keçiören, Etlik, Dikmen, Seyranbağlari were firstly invaded by the squatter
houses (gecekondu).
after 1983 via improvement plans
those areas were opened to high rise development.
As a result, the urban green, which had already been destructed by
(build and sell type) of contractors
AFTER SQUATTERS : Urban renewal samples from Etlik and Keçiören
were wiped away by high rise development in the inner parts of the valleys, which were definitely
not available for settlements.
Castle of Estergon
Valleys, Rivers and Streams again :
Many valleys with rivers like Ankara Cayi, Bendderesi, Çubuk
Cayi (Stream) was put underground and
was included in the sewer system due to the fact that they had been
formerly used for sewerage.
Jansen’s design of a swimming pool on the Roman Bend was put
away and forgotten
Barakalaşma- Shelter housing on the hills of Altındağ, which was once ignored and was not pain
enough attention,
firstly turned the Bend River into a polluted water stream and then to a
sewer system.
In fallowing years the magnificent base of the valley, on
which the Ankara Castle rises,
covered by the squatters finally the Bend River Avenue
was constructed on river.
Having the “Hıdır Tomb” on the Altındağ Hill already annihilated, the beautiful green areas and trees
on the bank of river,
which once the place where the Hıdırellez was celebrated, completely destroyed and
disappeared.
Orchards Again:
The habitants of Angora used to orchards (BAĞLAR)
at higher spots of the city in order to keep themselves from the dusty
and scorching days.
plateaus of the south and north of Angora had Etlik, Keciören,
Dikmen, Gaziosmanpasa, Esat orchards.
There used to be fabulous orchards houses built by the well-
off habitants of the city.
It is plausible to say “used to be” because almost all of them were
demolished, destroyed unfortunately
except for the few which are preserved until today and the multi-storey blocks took their
places.
Except one at Keciören :
This house which is now used as Ankara Research Center
in Gaziosmanpasa the orchard in the Papazın Bağı, Karlı Street are the ones who survived trough the
time and destruction of master and implementation plans.
Gecekondu Improvement (!):
Orchards, in the modern (!) life in which the seasonal migration was forgotten, were firstly covered by squatter housing as if there is no place else for growth in the city.
And then in 1980 as if a great invention, the areas were
“improved” by the district municipalities.
Only seeing the improvement action in the Keçiören would be
enough to astonish you.
Almost all of the quarter “improved” via constructing 5 to 8
stories of apartment blocks
without leaving any area for urban open space, urban green, or public
uses like sports areas or playgrounds.
Gecekondu (Squatter) renewal (not rehabilitation!)
high rise and high density, destroying all greenery
RENEWAL of URBAN & SQUATTER AREAS IN
ANKARA
Also the Valley of Çubuk Stream, which was once the place where
flower greenhouses and vegetable gardens existed, was “improved”,
and the area is fully covered with a huge hypermarket, municipality
buildings,
and “Gaudy-like” arabesque-styled apartments that are proof of the development of Turkish
architecture which can compete with Spanish examples.
Orchards, valleys and rivers of Dikmen and Etlik also were brutally “improved” like the
Keçiören case.
“Urban Renewal” (!) in the Yenisehir and housing
cooperative areas:
YENİŞEHİR / KIZILAY
YENISEHIR / KIZILAY : Destroying the landscape, historic &
cultural and human scale urban spaces
The foundation for those inventions was laid in the early 60ies when the Flat Ownership
Law came into force.
The first cooperative zones like Bahçelievler, Güvenevler,
Yenimahalle, Or-An, Varlık Mahallesi, Subayevleri etc.,
., and almost the whole Kızılay was demolished and
reconstructed, sometimes for twice, in 15-20 years.
KAVAKLIDERE 1931
KAVAKLIDERE 1991
This process is called “urban renewal” in the planning
literature; however, the renewal is generally applied to socially
problematic high-rise zones in western societies to create low
density areas.
In spite of this fact, probably because there was no other place left for settlements and in order to protect the lowlands and hills of
Ankara,
the renewals at the same quarters over and over seemed to be a
natural process.
God knows how many times we encountered never-ending and
continuous electric, water, natural gas and sewerage excavations and asphalting in many places in our
city.
Of course these constructions, muddy roads, ditches,
excavations, even walking to our houses on wooden bridges had been a funny trip back to my
days in my eastern home village childhood days.
It has been way too late when we realize that continuously renewed pavements and
infrastructure has been one of the biggest environmental problems
and one of the reasons of the ever-increasing inflation and national
depts.…
I have lived most of my life in the Bahçelievler; and I have been
trying to live on between the never ending constructions and
continuously renewed infrastructure systems;
I have been struggling with ever-increasing population, traffic and
parking problems.
It is easy to examine that this process have been going on in
many quarters of the city.
The effects of all the destruction of orchards and urban green,
how dense the city have gotten owing to construction of multi-storey apartments standing on at least 3-4 times bigger land then
the former structures,
Prof. Hermann Jansen’s Plan :
BAHCELIEVLER (Garden Houses)
A good example of the destroyed living urban space and environment
RESULTS : air pollution, noise and visual pollution
Air pollution especially in
winters
it is not easy to calculate the social and economic problems,
environmental problems, psychological problems caused by
these changes!
All these changes have taken place for land owners and
contractors to make huge amounts of profit.
The flats are shared between them; however, paying the price
for infrastructure and going trough the process is left to us to
experience!
Our national wealth has been wasted on the poor quality
structures that collapse on our people in every earthquake.
A modern, and planned capital town, the end of the episode in which Jansen tries to create a
Garden City;
here we have had air pollution, transportation problems, lack of infrastructure and non-served,
non-green environment;
since this is the situation, we can say now that we should preserve the last green areas in the city as if they are “oasises” in a desert.
Old Ankara :
ULUS SQUARE 1930
ULUS SQUARE
2004
Old Ankara were not able to survive the never-ending rent
quarrel;
ANAFARTALAR 1926
ANAFARTALAR 2004
except for the areas which were designed as “Protocol Areas” in
Jansen’s plan, especially the main streets of multi-storey (6-8-
10) buildings.
the development of Yenişehir and the pressure of CBD had not affected this area to an extend.
owners who could not demolish the old structures and build new
ones,
deserted the quarters of Old Ankara and left them into a
decline.
INNER CITADEL : Remains of Old Ankara
One of the main
remains of the
historic & cultural urban
heritage
Surrounded by Squatters (Gecekondu)
residential tissue turned into one of the poorest areas with new uses: 1. warehousing, 2. secondary uses 3. urban deteriorated areas .
The area turned into a “ghetto”, which is used by the immigrants only till they built themselves a
squatter house
“The Citadel”, that Jansen defined as the “Crown of the City”, and
which was kept without any conservation strategy until early
80ies,
had became the focus of unplanned applications via
historical site (Protocol Area) restrictions
and long lasting conservation plan preparing processes.
The historical tissue, which tried to rehabilitate itself owing to the
attention of tourism
and intellectual groups, was destroyed by eclectic structures that copied the civil architecture
of Ankara.
The urban design project for Hacıbayram pedestrianised the
area, and dolmuş buses are displaced.
URBAN DESIGN
PLAN FOR HACIBAYRAM AND TEMPLE
OF AUGUSTOS
The aim : creating a pedestrian square;
however, today we see that the area is again invaded by
vehicles.
20 years passed after the Ulus Competition Project,
the places which went trough urban design and restoration
processes in the 100 hectares of area is not more than the number
of one hand’s fingers.
ULUS HISTORICAL COMMERCIAL
CENTER CONSERVATION / REHABILITATION
PLAN
Çıkrıkçılar Rise, Hükümet Square, Suluhan Area, Itfaiye
Square are yet to be pedestrianised,
in fact, they are under pressure becoming more dense and of
vehicle traffic.
The enormous Altındağ Municipality Building in Esen Park in this quarter of the city, not only annihilated the vista
point of Jansen plan,
but also showed the merit to collapse the pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the area.
The Kaleiçi in the Old Ankara, which is piece by piece
annihilated by fires, still is yet to be protected by a Conservation
Plan.
The Old Ankara’s situation in this respect is not very different form the New Ankara; however, there are SIT restrictions that stop the
speculators.
If these restrictions wouldn’t exist, it is plausible to say that Old Ankara
would be demolished in weeks and –let’s not so exaggerate- 4-5 storey
building would be constructed in the Kaleiçi.
Conclusion:
Today natural, cultural and historical environment of Ankara
is still annihilated.
Improvement plans are gambling and mortgage of the future of the
city;
and the time to stop this process is definitely just more than
arrived.
Also all citizens, non-governmental institutions, local
and central government authorities are responsible for this
process;
however, the biggest responsibility does belong to the owner of these
cities, municipalities.
Inventory of historical and cultural heritage and a
“Conservation Masterplan for Ankara” should be formed.
A complete inventory of natural values, water basins, rivers,
valleys, valuable lands, flora and fauna should be formed.
“Natural Environment Conservation Masterplan” should be prepared in order to preserve
and improve all of the stated above.
“Metropolitan Area Masterplan” should be prepared which
preserves natural, cultural and historical heritages (in 1/25000
or 1/50000 scales.)
Urban Designs should be prepared so as to form specialized projects
for restoration and rehabilitation of the values stated above (in 1/5000,
1/1000, 1/500 … 1/1 scales.)
The destroy-built-sell and improvement planning process
should be taken under control, and structures should not be
demolished before they expire their economic and technical lifetimes.
The revising of infrastructure, roads and pavements in every
election campaign should be taken under control with limitations;
since this the only way to reach a sustainable urban development.
The citizens, habitants of Ankara should be enlightened and
informed about the conservation of natural and historical
environment.
Empowering the non-governmental institutions to make them be able to undertake projects for conservation and development
is also very important issue for the future of the city.
It should not be forgotten that every citizen has an important part
in this process.
Referances :
• TUNÇER, M., Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma İçin Tarihsel Çevreyi Koruma Politikası : Ankara, Bergama ve Şanlıurfa Örnekleri, Doktora Tezi, AÜ, SBF.
• ANKARA İMAR PLANI, 1937, S.5, Alaeddin Kıral Basımevi, İstanbul. (Hermann Jansen’in Ankara İmar Plan Raporu, Türkçe Çevirisi)
• Ankara Kalesi Koruma Geliştirme İmar Planı, Projesi, Yarışma Şartnamesi, Ank. 1987.
• Mehmed Kemal, 1983, Türkiye’nin Kalbi Ankara• ÖNEN, R., Ahi Şefafettin Camisi ve Çevresinin Sağlıklaştırılması Projesi,
TMMOB. MO Ank. Şb. “Kültürel Miras Sayısı”.• Ulus Tarihi Kent Merkezi Çevre Düzenleme Yarışma Şartnamesi, Ankara
Büyükşehir Belediyesi, İmar Dairesi Başkanlığı,• Ulus Tarihi Kent Merkezi Çevre Düzenleme Yarışması, I. Ödül Raporu. • Ankara BŞB, Ankara Programı Uygulama Planı, 1989.• Koruyucu Kent Yenilemesi,• http://www.ergir.com/Ankara.htm