A new approach for participative urban design: An urban design study of Cumhuriyet urban square in Yozgat Turkey

Journal of Geography and Regional Planning, vol.5, no.5, pp.122-131, 2012 (Scopus)

The concept of participation has come into prominence in urban planning and urban design since the

mid- 1970’s as consciousness of local identity increased. There is a significant body of research on

participation related to urban design. Various participation methods, models, and processes have been

proposed each based on specific experiences. This article presents a participation method and process

for the urban design study of Yozgat Cumhuriyet square. This method is useful for defining a new

approach in participative urban design based on intense and sincere communication between

designers and users. The study was conducted entirely as an academic workshop. First, questionnaires

were used to ensure participation, then it was expected that the participants, who accepted to take part

in the later stages of design would directly contribute to urban design process. However, the final urban

design project could not be prepared as the process failed at the stage of active participation of the

citizens. Although, it failed, the process could be evaluated as a new approach/model for the

participative urban design. This article explains the method and process and discusses the reasons for

the failure in the case study.