Ecem's Padlet by Ecem Ekren https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary Cit 330 Course Diary en-us 2021-03-07 22:02:28 UTC 2026-01-05 07:41:01 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f436.png Seen from the Window by Henri Lefebvre ecemmekren https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1360494315 Can we see the rhythm when we look through the window? 

The rhythm not just about the sound. Lefebvre's (1996) article on Seen from the Window discusses city life and its rhythms. Have you ever tried to look through a window and observe the city? If we go deep, if we listen closely rather than just look, we can see that everything has a rhythm. People, tools, trees, leaves, even flowers… They all have time. Each of them has a recent past, present, and future. All of them have their own rhythm.  The rhythms may decrease in transitions but they always connect and never disappear, even at night. In the article, Lefebvre states that "Night does not interrupt diurnal rhythms, but modifies them and especially slows them down." He mentioned, “Yet, to capture a rhythm one needs to have been captured by it. One has to let go, give and abandon oneself to its duration.” (Lefebvre, 1996) We must be exposed to rhythms. No camera or image can show these rhythms. We only need eyes, ears, mind, memory, and emotions. I hear, feel and see many rhythms in my daily life and when I look through the window. 

According to Lefebvre the interactions of various repetitive and different rhythms, as one says, animate the street and the neighborhood. (Lefebvre, 1996) For example, passing cars, my next-door neighbor's dog, my dog barking when he barked, the wind making the sound of the leaves on the tree, the neighbors talking, etc. This is actually what makes a neighborhood a neighborhood. Lefebvre states that "Rhythms perceived from the invisible window, pierced in the wall of the facade . . . but besides the other windows, it too is also within a rhythm which escapes it." Even if we did not realize, although the window is very special and tangible, it offers us more than just a view.

This article actually reminded me of the feeling of rhythm that I had experienced but was not aware of. 

The rhythm? Yes, it can be seen from the Window.]]> 2021-03-27 22:53:51 UTC https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1360494315 Economic Base of Contemporary Cities by Amin ecemmekren https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1360504362 What is the Modern Concept of the city?  The city all about efficiency. Efficiency occurs with economic organizations. The city designed and defined by a class of entrepreneurs. The city is rational. The modern concept of the city is related to construction, rationality, development, control, make things more efficient ( labor, houses, transportation), labor and money. The 1950s can be seen as a turn for the trend of urbanization. Cities like Istanbul are packed environments. There are some protests in the cities for labor, employment, wellbeing, or welfare of people. According to Amin, “the source of economic vitality in a post-industrial city is economic competitiveness and economic dynamism. It is also about diseconomies and patterns of urban variegation. Urban density plays a vital role in providing the labor, capital, infrastructure, and markets as well.” (Amin,2003)

 Urbanism makes a city. The components of urbanism are size, density, and heterogeneity. Differentiation and specialization occur according to size. Heterogeneity makes different us between each other. It gathers people and density occurs. Will Hutton states that the city, through its physical structures and proximate links, facilitates face-to-face contact in order to build trust. Trust-based links, mediated by face-to-face contact in the context of the city, are what makes markets work. This makes the city good. A good city has multiple networks of varying degrees of trust and economic performance.

In a nutshell, I understand in the article that the modern concept is about being efficient in modern cities. Therefore, there should be rationality, development, control, and economic performance in the modern city. Also, face-to-face contact is very important for trust in every practice. If we want a good modern city, we should protect the rights of labor and employment for the wellbeing and welfare of people.

]]> 2021-03-27 23:06:37 UTC https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1360504362 The New Arab City by Yasser Elshestawy ecemmekren https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1452338151 The New Arab Urban has rapid and assertive urbanization projects underway in certain cities of the Persian Gulf, Doha, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. The Gulf cities are known for consumption, hybridity, resourcefulness, and spectacle. There is high inequality. However, these cities as challenging conventional models of development trajectories. The New Arab Urban has many emphases and influences the global.

As is known, the Arab/Middle Eastern city is thus caught between a variety of worlds, ideologies, and struggles. The region was mired for a long time in struggles and conflicts, depriving it of the ability to develop properly. There is a divide in this region between emerging cities such as the Gulf and the traditional centers. The planning is split with qasbah in the Arab city in terms of spatial segregation. The qasbah is the site of resistance, is contrasted with the European quarter, the seat of the colonial masters. It is a form of “Gulfication” or “Dubaization” in which these new centers are influencing and shaping the urban form of “traditional” cities. ]]> 2021-04-23 15:47:08 UTC https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1452338151 Dubaization & Gulfication ecemmekren https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1452519591 The skyline of Abu Dhabi]]> 2021-04-23 16:23:08 UTC https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1452519591 Slums In The Arab Cities ecemmekren https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1452531531 Manshiet Nasser, one of the largest slums in Cairo]]> 2021-04-23 16:25:32 UTC https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1452531531 How did globalization and global capital approach the new Arab city? ecemmekren https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1452563848 The Arab city is undergoing a massive transformation and these changes are fuelled by global capital and neoliberal economic policies. These changes have resulted in a change in the cities’ urban form. For example, Dubai fuelled by an abundance of capital, creating a great divide in the region. Also, Arab cities are fueled by a combination of natural resource wealth such as oil and gas and the flow of global capital.

In Arab cities, the upper classes have left the central city to gated pockets of privilege. Outlying areas such as New Cairo are turning into gated enclaves for the rich, whereas the remainder of the city is turning into a large collection of informal settlements and slums.

I think that there are rigid divisions due to the absence of a strong government that would enforce any meaningful housing policies or planning strategy.]]> 2021-04-23 16:32:01 UTC https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1452563848 The Sociology of Urban Public Spaces by Stéphane Tonnelat ecemmekren https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1527092352 What is Public Space?
Public space has been described as "open space" such as the streets, parks and recreation areas, plazas, and outdoor space. It is opposite to the private domain of housing and work.
First of all, public concepts come from the notions of the Greek agora and the Roman forum. These were public areas where an assembly of equal citizens can discuss the public affairs of the city.

Sociology cares about the physical venues of the city and the casual interactions of all citizens. " More than the possibility for a debate or a discourse, public space is measured according to its accessibility, both physical and psychological." (Joseph 1998). Streets and parks, train and subway stations, airports, highways, parking lots, shopping malls can be described as public spaces. Also, accessibility can provide the circulation of persons and goods. It allows the emergence of collective life in the city.

The public sphere is about conversation and debate. The publicly accessible spaces are about mobility. The "street" shows the relationship between public space and the form of the city. According to Kevin Lynch, paths represent the streets, sidewalks, and other spaces of circulation. It not only creates perception but also built the environment. We can say that public space is the principal element of the representation of the city. The streets are a more permanent feature for the city rather than structures and the built environment. Streets just not functional but also something that belongs to the population. Streets are reflecting the look of view, lifestyle, culture, values. 

Accessibility & Communication are two main and necessary qualities that are needed for the success of public space.
The public spaces of transportation are an important factor in regulating both the form of the city and its social order.

]]> 2021-05-15 14:09:07 UTC https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1527092352 The Greek Agora ecemmekren https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1527123300 2021-05-15 14:37:10 UTC https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1527123300 The Roman Forum ecemmekren https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1527126652 2021-05-15 14:40:13 UTC https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1527126652 Gecekondu ecemmekren https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1527153419 Turkey has been growing cities and modern, increasingly complex structures with industry. Urbanization which is informal development can be seen in the biggest cities of Turkey, İstanbul, Ankara and, İzmir. However, due to the squatter houses, the city started to lose its layout because of these illegal housing.  Squatter housing was defined as housing illegally established and roughly constructed. The initial structure was small in size, made of low-quality materials, and built with nominal labor costs on squatter land with a nominal rent. 

"The urban periphery” refers to the position of gecekondu residents in the system. We can give an example of living in a slum area close to the city center as social and spatial discrimination. The term "gecekondulu" is derived to denote poverty.

I think that the lack of planned urbanization is the result of squatter houses.]]> 2021-05-15 15:04:51 UTC https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1527153419 The world's tallest slum ecemmekren https://padlet.com/ecemmekren/ecodiary/wish/1527217718 Caracas' notorious Tower of David

Torre De David a.k.a. tallest slum is a skyscraper that has 45 stories high. The tower has notoriety in terms of violence, drugs, and deaths. People use this place as a home and business place. Everybody is saying this place is a dangerous, horrible place. Residents access the tower by a parking garage. Families inhabit the first 28 floors. There are children's in narrow corridors. There is no elevation in the tower. I wonder how they can go upper floors, it could be very rough via walking. In terms of many situations, we can say, it is hard to live here. The residents are poor people and in the city. Guillermo Barrios says there is a housing crisis. This tower is actually an abandoned construction site. It became a sad symbol of Venezuelan cities. We can say it is an anti-housing place. However, Torre De David became a shelter for needed people and people that live here are okay with the situation.
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