Citation Information: Ozturk-Denirtas, P. and Bostanci, S.H.

(2016) Analysing of Design

Approaches of Urban Furniture at City Centres Over Students' Projects, ICOMEP 2016
International Congress of Management Economy and Policy, 26-27 -11-2016, Hilton,
Istanbul.

ANALYSING OF DESIGN APPROACHES OF URBAN FURNITURE AT CITY

CENTRES OVER STUDENTS' PROJECTS

Assist.Prof.Dr. Pınar OZTURK DEMİRTAS

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Seda H. BOSTANCI

INTRODUCTION

Urban centres are areas where urban life and urban texture can be observed dynamically.
“Urban texture explains the technology, lifestyle, values, morphological properties and codes
of the period it represents, establishes the identity of the settlement and defines the city form”
(Ocakçı, 2012:189). Urban centres reflect the identity of a city that allows a city to be
distinguished from other cities. “Urban identity is the first thing that comes to mind when
talking about a city. The identity items of cities are natural and social, and structured
environmental elements with social consensus on what the city represents” (Ocakçı and Türk,
2012:226).

“The whole of the elements forming a city constitute the urban pattern. It is seen that the
elements constituting the urban texture consist of factors such as space, form, colour, light,
water, nature, and the physical texture of a city is shaped as a result of the combination of
these. The human element forms the main axis of the city with this combination as well”
(Altıntaş and Eliri, 2005: 63). “The main problem of the important spatial restructuring of big
cities such as Istanbul is the reconstruction processes which do not reflect the characteristics
of urban identity and are similar in every city as a result of the continuous growth and
increase of intensive population, mass housing and block site settlements (Bostancı, 2014:
92). Major problems brought by this process are the decrease in green areas, and
environmental problems. This construction pressure increases the environmental stress with
traffic problems and safety concerns.

While urban design lead mixed uses which are high in urban design, environmental values
and quality of life to design and create safe and vibrant urban spaces that can be experienced
day and night, it makes the multidimensional design process of public spaces the focal point
as the intersection of planning and architecture. In public spaces, square and parks have
special pre-requisites as areas where a city's lifestyle, cultural, social and economic structure
is visible. In these areas, the creation of public spaces in which people can be brought together
and the culture of living together can be created, adds a social responsibility mission to urban
design work. Public spaces are the areas where the historical and social events with a certain
spatial spirit and an urban memory are occurred.

“The creation of a good urban environment and attractive public spaces is not only in the
hands of experts and managers. The reflection of citizens and the common expectations and
background of all urban actors plays an active role in ensuring the spatial quality" (Carmona,
vd., 2003: 19).

“The city has a different understanding and prevention in terms of the users and the city, each
of which is liveable and perceptible. The importance of these elements is because of the fact
that the visual and physical relationship they establish with the city is primarily through urban
elements. In terms of defining the urban environment in which they found these elements are
important because they determine the nature and customization” (Aksu, 2013: 374). With
these aspects, the city became a regular and random process of shaping urban areas that the
inhabitants of the city actively use and do not prefer to use. “The perceived urban space which
is perceived by its physical and social dimensions is related to the environmental awareness
understood and created as a result of everyday life and experiences,” (Madanipour, 1996: 20).
A good urban environment describes the high quality of life settlements the users can feel
good in terms of self-physiologically, psychologically and socially in the organization. The
quality of life is evaluated through some multi-component concepts such as “socio-economic
aspects, sense of belonging, education, education, environment, culture, entertainment and
participation” (Senlier, vd., 2009: 213). In societies with high quality of life, expectations
from urban areas are increasing. As a result, mixed use and diversity are increasing in urban
areas. This process reveals the diversity of urban furniture and the understanding of design
that can respond to different needs. Particularly, it is required for different aspects of urban
furniture for citizens living in the city with various obstacles to have different dimension,
diversity and ergonomics, and be accessible for everyone in accordance with universal design
criteria.

In design education, the relationship established with the city usually has inspiring effects.
Generally, most of the architectural and design faculties in various countries are located close
to the city centres. Academicians and students in the architectural and design departments In
university campuses far away from city centers produce creative solutions to associate
campus life with urban life with various contributions such as art exhibitions and
environmental regulation. Designers and students in these areas create products in order to
increase the visual comfort of the public places of the city at different scales from urban
design to industrial design. The workshop organized by Torus and Girginkaya - Akdağ is an
example of these products. In this work, "the aim is to design an extension for topography
using parametric design principles in the workshop in order to design current uses for wood, a
traditional building material, using computational design methods.

Four different design proposals and prototypes produced at the workshop (1/5 scale) were
conducted. Interactive Pixel Wall, one of these proposals, was produced in its actual scale and
interacted with users in a public event in Maçka Art Park first” (Torus and Girginkaya Akdağ,
2015: 55). Increase in this and similar examples will develop the mobility in urban areas and
the spatial sense of belonging and appreciation. Urban residents and tourists are exposed to
urban experiences with open, relevant and highly motivated structures with the expectation
that they will find innovations in such cities.

1. VISUAL CHARACTERISTICS AND DESIGN PROCESSES OF URBAN

FURNITURE

Urban furniture has functions that are seen as details in urban spaces such as lighting
elements, benches, garbage cans, which are also referred to as urban micro-media design, but
which strengthen urban quality of life and facilitate urban life. These urban elements give a
variety of clues to the understanding of urban character and mobility, lifestyle in the city.
Occasionally, these elements are misplaced or cannot be seen easily, and as a result they cause
garbage parking lots. In addition to the guiding and motivating features of these elements in
the design process, events such as art exhibitions for recycling especially in parking lots may
contribute to these characteristics in terms of creating awareness of citizens against
environmental value. The correct positioning of the lighting elements creates various effects
from night security problems to light pollution. “According to many recent studies, effective
lighting also reduces the crime rate during the day” (Özkaya, 1968). “Lighting of urban
furniture is important for urban mobility in terms of its continuity of day and night” (Bostancı,
2002: 5).

“The city furniture as an object to use should carry information which encourages its usage as
well as its main utility function which creates itself. Urban information is an important factor
in terms of perceiving, understanding and evaluating the city” (Fettah, 2005: 6, 7). Among the
important functions of urban furniture, which are in the description, are potential features that
facilitate life with communication-oriented and functional features such as directing users and
navigating directions.

“It is noticed that the harmony between the urban identity and the city furniture is in fact the
consistency of what is sought with the spirit of the historical stratification and the space that is
present in the city or adopted over time. A holistic approach in this respect gives
responsibility to designers, experts, urban actors and managers for locating such functions as
the aesthetic values of the furniture and its functions” (Güneş, 2005: 94). In this respect, it is
necessary for the city furniture to make a positive visual impression to solve the urban area
well and to understand user space relations with various methods. Urban spaces where
citizens can develop a sense of belonging exhibit behaviours in order to keep it clean, use it as
it must be and not to act as vandals who could destroy the spatial elements. “Visual-purpose
urban furniture described as symbolic, aesthetic, semantic and monumental has positive
impacts on the places where they are located. In the design of urban furniture; design criteria
such as function, aesthetics, colour, form, material, texture and perceptibility are influential in
the design of original urban furniture designs. All design criteria are associated with each
other, all must be evaluated accordingly” (Aksu, 2013: 384).
It is observed that the vast majority of life in the city is spent through urban and outdoor
spaces. In accordance with this lifestyle, there is a need for the design of urban furniture,
which people feel comfortable with and fits the human scale (Sha-jun, 2005). In order to learn
people's expectations from urban furniture, it is important to understand how they move
around the city with methods such as space syntax, in which urban areas they spend more
time with behavioural analyzes; interviews and questionnaires about what they expect from
the local furniture in their public spaces should be carried out with the questionnaire methods.
Urban furniture with a special value in various cities described as museum towns is protected
and maintains its function in urban areas. As city furniture is being designed, municipalities
may hold competitions to design products just as they do for urban design competitions, and
may encourage production in this field. As a result, urban furniture which is more attractive
and innovative, and appropriate for the visual values of the city can increase in number.

2. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH: DESIGN STUDIES

In the university, a design studio study was carried out by students who studied industrial
product design training to see how the concept of "city" and the concepts of "human profile",
"urban identity", "urban furniture" are evaluated and how they make decisions about the
related product design.

As a part of the course of 2015-2016 Fall Semester Product Design Studio, the 5th project
groups was assigned with a project called "Public Use Open Product Design (Urban Furniture
Design) on Urban Identity Framework" in order to measure their interaction of identity and
urban, and their approaches to product development by researching and evaluating.

Considering the urban identity existing within the scope of the project and taking into
consideration the specific needs of the city; it is desirable to design an open product system
for public use. In order to process urban identity, every student was asked to select a district /
region in Istanbul and investigate the identity qualities of that region and they are required to
design products by specifying needs. It has been stated that the products to be designed should
be a single product or products that are innovative and customized needs in addition to the
existing urban furniture.

Important criteria in the design of the project's urban furniture are stated as follows:

o It should meet the needs of the zone much better than the existing city furniture.
o It should contribute to the urban experience and perception of that region. This
contribution can be in the form of an unaware directing, a message or a description.
o The placement of the furniture system designed for the region and the relationship
with other structures in the region must be defined by the designer.
o Since this furniture is oriented to the outside; the necessary solutions should be made
in order to be a sustainable product in the outdoor space.
o 2015-2016 Fall Semester Design Studio Course, Subjects of Project
Project Selected Project Subject Project-Key words Target Product
Neighborhood /
District
1 Pendik Product design for Recycling, For Pendik coastal
seaside region of environmentally friendly, zone, the sunflower
Pendik developing behavioral seeds sale and garbage
model unit
2 Moda Trash bin for Moda Recycling Recycling system for
neighborhood public use
3 Ataşehir Bus stop-lighting- Environmental Bus stop, trash box and
garbage box product awareness, sustainability street lamp
group for Ataşehir
district
4 Kartal Bus stop for Kartal Sustainability Solar energy assisted
region bus stop
5 Beylerbeyi Fishing point product User friendly Urban furniture for
design for Beylerbeyi hobby fishery: sitting-
seaside region fishing-trash box and
lighting elements
6 Avcılar Picnic unit for the Sustainability Outdoor cooking unit
Avcılar region for easy use
7 Ataşehir Information kiosk Sustainability, renewable Router kiosk with
and parking payment energy, environmental regional information,
system for Ataşehir awareness environmental parking
district system
8 Moda Bench design for Functional use, aesthetic Aesthetic Bench design
Moda neighborhood concern
9 Göztepe Product group Renewable energy, The feeding unit using
providing water- functionality renewable energy, the
food-playground for hand washing unit
street animals in park (water tank for
areas for Göztepe animals), the game
region product Yenilenebilir

Design items that the product concepts should include and be considered in design process are
defined as:

o Ergonomics,
o Modularity,
o View / Aesthetics.

A total of 9 students took the project. As stated in Table 1, these students selected Pendik,
Moda, Ataşehir, Kartal, Beylerbeyi, Avcılar and Göztepe regions and developed their projects
according to the needs they identified in this region.

2.1. Evaluations on Design Studies

In more detail, the student studies are shown in Table 2 as "selected district", "progeny
objective", "selected identity of the selected community", "research methods of the project",
"problem determination", "design product", " Area, park, square, street ...), "used concepts"
and "contribution to the quality of life of the project". The purpose here is to determine the
2015-2016 Fall Semester ,Product Design Studio Course, Project Analysis

District Identity Research Problem Detection Aim Product Scale of

Properties of Districts Methods Project
Pendik Overpopulation, Medium Survey, Less environmental Prevent Pendik residents the sunflower seeds Parks, Pend
level of education, egional Observation, awareness, waste of from throwing their garbage sale and garbage beach
settlement: bazaar and beach. Product sunflower seeds, unit
scanning vandalism

Ataşehir Districts, shopping malls, an Survey, Mass settlements, heavy To design a product group Bus stop with living Bus stop ar
effort to create a green zone Observation traffic, loss of green space that refers to the nature and wall, lighting and
human interaction, trash box design
appropriate to the modern
face of the region
Ataşehir Districts, shopping malls, an Observation, Shopping mall, heavy, Environmentally friendly Router kiosk with Parking
effort to create a green zone Survey traffic information kiosk regional lots(parkin
information, system),
environmental subway an
parking system shopping c
entries (kio
Moda The upper middle class and Observation, The settlement consists of Modular system, recycling Recycling system Square, str
the intellectual district, the Survey narrow streets, garbage units that can grow and and parks
old settlement western cans scattered on narrow shrink according to the area,
schools, churches, streets and obstructing disposal of waste
bureaucrats and artists pedestrian traffic, weekend
settlement for up to 70 years. excursion, recreation and
entertainment district,
excess waste
Moda Old settlement, intellectual Observation Sitting area problem in Sitting places for open spaces Bench design coastal are
dimension, recreation and Product open space of Moda in the parks
entertainment district, Search weekends
Beylerbeyi Hobby fishery in coastal area Observation, As fishing is a hobby Supporting thefishing hoby Urban furniture - Coastline
Survey bothk summer and winter, in Beylerbeyi fishing equipment
there is no supporting unit include sitting,
storage,lighting and
trash bin
Göztepe Residential area, two Observation, Too many street animals in Providing the relationship Animal feed unit Parks
intensive parks and shopping Survey parks, food left for animals between humans and animals design; which
streets in the area, high pet couses of pollution in a more reliable produce partly their
feeding rate environment, own energy and
feeding animals provide water and
food to animals.
And lighting design
Avcılar High population, Observation, Beach barbecue at the Regionalizing the picnic Outdoor cooking Beach and
Survey Weekends, environmental action on the beach and unit green areas
pollution designing a picnic unit
 ICOMEP 2016 | International Congress of Management Economy and Policy | Proceedings Book

extent to which the criteria given in the project paper meet the students within the scope of
urban identity.

In the projects classified according to different features, some issues have been pointed out as
follows: (1) Although the problem identifications show some changes according to the region,
it has been seen that the solution focused product designs are mainly developed under the
concepts of "environmental awareness", "environmental cleanliness", "environment friendly".
(2) The students preferred to use the method of surveying and observing with the people
living in the region as a method in the identification studies for the region.

Three of these projects were given as an example in the evaluation

Student: Yasemin Karaduman / Region: Pendik / Design: Sunflower seeds sales and
refuse unit / Purpose: To assemble own garbage to people / Method used: Operative
conditioning

The student chose the Pendik neighbourhood on the Asian side of İstanbul. In his research, he
observed mainly human behaviour in the region and its relations with urban furniture. As a
result, the study revealed that the region is high in population density, low in education level,
vandalism is common and environmental awareness is weak. Among the problems identified,
the sunflower seeds disposal problem was addressed, and when developing the idea of the
problem he preferred to use the operant condition to make the person to take the difficult
action, because he would not be able to collect it at all without his / her request. He intended
to get people done something willingly by showing positive action. He saw that the designed
product was a "sunflower seeds sales unit" that returns a sum of money if it gets the garbage
of the seeds. Its aim to reward the user when the garbage provided during the sale is returned.
Today, it is seen that this system is used in plastic and glass bottle wastes. At the same time,
these approaches are being developed not only for recycling but also for creating a regulation
and system. The same approach is seen with shopping carts in shopping malls where users can
take a shopping cart by inserting a coin and when they finish shopping, they have to put the
shopping cart where it have to be and take the coin back.

Student: Erdem Ustaoğlu / Region: Fashion / Design: Recycling System / Aim: To

create a clean environment and to recycle the waste consumed in the region / Method
used: Modular-growable buildings and information

The student has chosen the neighbourhood Moda, located in the Anatolian side of Istanbul. As
a result of the district researches and the surveys he carried out, he aimed to design a
recycling system for public use in order to make the environment more clean and neat in line
with the unique requirements of the neighbourhood. It has been observed that litters located
around cause disorder, visual pollution and people's movement since streets in the
neighbourhood are narrow. It has been emphasized that the environment is polluted
particularly at weekends, therefore; an underground recycling system located at some certain

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points where don't occupy much space in the city was aimed as a solution for recycling of
packages of the liquids and dry food consumed in the environment. In the first stage of the
project, since the areas where the mentioned product may be placed are different from each
other in size, the recycling bins were thought to be produced differently in size as well. In the
second stage of the project, the wastes were thought to be disposed from a single centre with
interfaces (colour and graphics), and recycled under the ground and the surfaces for that were
determined. In addition, it was aim to raise the awareness for the environment and give
information about the product with a panel placed beside the bin. The contribution of the
project to Moda was stated as creating a clean environment and recycling the wastes
consumed in the environment.

Student: Oğuzhan Çıtak / Region: Ataşehir / Design: Bus stations with living walls,
lighting and trash box design / Objective: To design a product group which refers to the
interaction of nature and human, suitable for the modern face of the region / Used
Method: To combine environmental practices with urban furniture.

The student has chosen the Ataşehir district located in the Anatolian side and evaluated it as
the distinguishing characteristics of the effort to pay attention to the green space with the fact
that Ataşehir has a structure separated from the districts by the settlement formed by the sites
and the Shopping Mall region. He preferred to continue with a modern building and a
neighbourhood residence-nature interaction theme. He used "Living walls" or "vertical
gardens" which are suggested on the purpose of fulfilling the citizens' longing with the nature,
and increasing their quality of urban life and the green space per person in bus stations where
he aimed to provide a stylistic quality in comply with the modern face of the city. In his
project, passengers are able to have a free ride as long as they water the living wall using their
transportation cards and he used the colour green in lightening element and litter.

When the project on "Product Design for Public Use within the Framework of Urban Identity
(Urban Furniture Design)" for which students were asked to choose a neighbourhood and the
identification is taken into consideration;

1. It has been observed that although the neighbourhoods that the students have dealt with
have unique problems, findings of their studies are generally about "behavioural attitude
change need", "environmental pollution", "recycling", "renewable energy" and "nature
anxiety".

2. Students have used their own observations and surveys while planning the interactions
between "urban" and "product" for their purposes of designing a product.

3. From the general point of view of interaction with the environment, it has been observed
that there is a problem in the design of the students partially in relation to the original identity
of the city and its product form.

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3. CONCLUSION

The study is to determine the basic problems observed in urban and urban areas in Istanbul
and Anatolia by examining the approaches of design students in city centres, environmental
values, urban life and urban identity. Later, students learn how to use design education and
tools to solve problems in these areas, and the sample projects they have developed are
examined through project assignments.

Eight out of the nine studies examined are from the Anatolian side of Istanbul, one is selected
from the European side. Areas that students chose are designated as the neighbourhoods that
they recognize because they live in or spend more time at weekends. Among the project
districts, Moda and Beylerbeyi are among the urban areas with historical features and coastal
settlement, and busy urban areas on weekends. Göztepe, Kartal and Pendik are mostly known
as the old residential areas of the Anatolian side. The fact that these three communities are old
has led to the formation of their central business districts and neighbourly relations, the
district parks. Ataşehir and Avcılar have built a residential structure surrounded by high and
dense buildings like mass housing, off-street residential settlements, shopping malls, and wide
motorways. Urban experience and neighbourhood religions are residential areas where living
cultures are weak and people who live in these neighbourhoods usually prefer to spend their
weekends or leisure times in their historic and recreational city centres instead of these
neighbourhoods.

An analytical review of the content and approach of the projects has shown that while
students have different contents in all these districts, they mainly have problems with the
environment, and that the recycling contact is especially preferred when developing products.
It is believed that there are two reasons of why the issues related to the environment as well as
the urban identity and urban aesthetics are not able to take place prominently in the project
themes. Firstly, industrial product designers may not be more intensely informed about the
education processes, environment and sustainability, and may not be as much concentrated in
the educational processes of cities as their architectural and urban planning students.
However, the second and more decisive factor is thought to be the fact that the urban
transformation process in Istanbul has a very negative impact on the quality of life such as
environmental pollution, work accidents and noise.

The themes of the subjects selected in the study and studied in detail include rising the
awareness of environmental consciousness and keeping the environment clean, developing
creative designs that will change attitudes and behaviours and development of the operant
conditioning model. Besides, subjects like creating a clean environment layout and designing
products for recycling, nature, and issues such as designing products compatible with human
interaction have been also discussed. In each, targets for communicating between innovator,
user, city and product have been identified. While interactive design products enable users to
become aware of the environment and the cleanliness of urban open spaces, there are also
psychological influences that enable these activities to get better in urban life. As a result,

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ICOMEP 2016 | 26-27 October | İstanbul, Turkey

research shows the exploration work capability due to urban transformation process and
intensive urbanization in Istanbul, in an area where the development of the social structure,
environmental awareness is underscored by the importance of students in the focus on
environmental issues. These studies show a critical point of view on living spaces and user
habits, and a specific point of view on the guiding effect of design that will change the
attitude of users and gain environmental awareness. The effect of the design on changing the
behaviour patterns has been emphasized. Sustainable communities are possible through the
settlement of environmental awareness patterns of behaviour.

Arranging the workshops of students and academics with different specializations such as
urban planners, architects, designers, sociologists, environmental scientists and urban
historians while working on this area can create opportunities for the comprehensive
production of innovative solutions in the future. In this process, the incentive effect of local
governments is also important.

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