| dc.description.abstract | Architecture is fundamentally a political activity.
What makes living interesting is the environment
that changes constantly, and politics is not only
the essence of this alternating environment, but
also it is the essence of the design process. The
experience I had during Gezi Park protests in
Turkey has changed my perspective about
occupying and sharing a public space. The social
and political influences of the protest have
encouraged many citizens to be aware of their
environment. In the course of demonstrations,
protestors chose a symbol that reflects the
ideology of the uprising: a tree. Certainly the
issue was beyond a tree, but it was representing
the connection between urban public spaces and
citizens. This paper investigates how to create a
political public space that minimizes government
resistance and empowers citizens to actively
participate in the decision-making process. The
research is executed using an empirical method
and through observations, case studies,
interviews, and literature, data is collected for
analysis. The potential of 'virtual' public space in
conjunction with the importance of 'physical'
public space allows for the expansion of
conventional criteria of democratic action, which
further empowers the citizen by alleviating the
force of government interventio | |
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