In this blog post, inspired by the article Seen From The Window, I supported  thoughts with examples. I hope you will be pleased while reading 😊

All of us may think of different thoughts when Arab cities are mentioned. Some of these thoughts are that they are developed and rich, while on the other hand, they are traditional and undeveloped. If you ask me, I can think of both. Although they are highly developed economically, their way of life and way of thinking seem very backward. For example, I associate the ownership of oil and the ability to build skyscrapers with being economically developed. On the other hand, their attitude to women's rights suggests that they are very backward cities. Women even got the freedom to drive in Saudi Arabia too late. Since they have very patriarchal society, male domination is at the highest level. Women had to get permission from their husbands to go somewhere. Turkey also has a patriarchal society, but if we compare with Arab cities, we see that they have much stricter rules and opinions. In fact, it is not welcomed to generalize Arab cities in this way. According to Yasser Elshestawy (2015), we can divide Arab Cities into two as “new Arab Cities" and "Arab cities that remain mired in tradition, history, and political conflict. If we want to give an example of ancient and traditional Arab cities, one of them could be Cairo. One of the most prominent examples we can give to new Arab cities is Doha. Also, Dubai is one of them. I did not have detailed information about this place until recently. However, the few documentaries I watched gave me very interesting information. For example, I learned that police cars are quite luxurious. They drive quite expensive cars like Ferrari to catch criminals faster. Another factor that changed my views on Arab cities is this: There are many students from Arab cities at our university and we became friends with one of them. She taught me a lot about their traditions and lifestyles that I didn't know.

Now, I want to mention about cities that are globally interconnected. If a city can preserve its identity and history while industrializing, then it deserves to be a part of the city network. In this way, regions in the world form a bond between them. In fact, we can reach each other thanks to these bonds. When we think about it, we share common problems and concerns from time to time with other countries around the world. Later, we can become a part of world citizenship with the communications we make. Having the same concerns and trying to find common solutions to problems strengthen the bonds between them.

We came at the end of this post. I am waiting for your comments and criticism. Of course, there may be places where we disagree. I hope it has been an enjoyable reading for you. It was a pleasure to share my thoughts on this matter with you.

 

First of all, the use of public transport is completely over for me. My house is very close to the metro and before the pandemic I used to go almost everywhere by metro. However, I have to drive everywhere anymore. I am facing the traffic problem much more now. Working hours didn't matter to me when I was going to meet my friends before because the subway had nothing to do with traffic. Now I pay attention to my meeting times because I don't want to face heavy evening traffic all the time.

Secondly, I started to spend more time in open spaces. I usually go to parks. Because closed areas are both very dangerous and most places have been closed due to the pandemic. I used to never go to the park before May. Spending time outside when the weather was cold would have been meaningless to me. But now, even when the weather is cold, I try to spend time outside by wearing thick clothes. Because if I don't do that, I will have to stay home all the time, and in the long run, this leads to depression.

Another important point is that many businesses had to close due to the pandemic. Especially restaurants. The reason for this is this. People now go to cafes and restaurants less often. When this is the case, people have difficulties economically and close their places. I went to Emek two weeks ago and saw that many restaurants I went to before were closed. I think this is one of the biggest changes brought about by the epidemic.

Finally, I would like to talk about how online shopping has taken up a much larger area in our lives. Before the pandemic, I was shopping online, but at the same time, I was going to shopping centers and meeting my needs. With the onset of the pandemic, this situation changed completely. I only shop online now. I think it is very risky to try clothes in the store. So, what exactly are the advantages and disadvantages of this situation? Of course, shopping online is very easy. You don't have to go anywhere or move anything. Just add the product you like to your basket. But not every product comes as you want. Especially when buying clothes, there can be big mistakes in body measurements. From this point of view, shopping from the store does not cause such problems. In addition, cargo companies are now working in much more intense conditions. Some sites even bring products to our home on Sundays. Under normal circumstances, cargoes would not work on Sundays. So big changes have occurred in people's routines.

 

I hope that the pandemic will end, and we can go back to our old lives. We once again understood the value of being able to go wherever we want whenever we want and to hug our loved ones tightly. Hope to see you in healthier days. Thank you for reading my essay.

Being a stranger is actually a situation that we all experience at certain times. Some of us witness this situation by going to different cities within our own country, while some of us change the country. In fact, in both cases, we are a kind of stranger to the place we are going to. So let's talk a little bit about what is not to be a stranger first. Let me give an example from myself. I have been living in Ankara since I was born. I have a lot of ideas about where to go and when, the people profile of the neighborhoods and the lifestyle of the people. So I'm not a stranger to this city, actually I'm a part of this city. I feel like I belong here. At the same time, this situation makes me quite comfortable. So not being a stranger actually means feeling comfortable where we are. The reason for this comfort is our knowledge and experience about where we are.

Now I will give an example of what it means to be a stranger through my cousin who moved to America 5 years ago. I remember the difficulties she had when she first left. Since she did not know people's general habits, she had difficulty communicating. At the same time, her English was not very good at the time. For this reason, she had a lot of trouble in expressing herself. Another factor that forced him was the difference in rules between the two countries. many things that are normal in Turkey, was not available in America. So, what happened next? Has she been a stranger for 5 years? I am happy to say that she is no longer a foreigner in America. Her English improved over time. She even speaks like his mother tongue right now. That’s why she doesn't have any problems expressing herself anymore. Her circle of friends has expanded considerably and she has a job . In other words she got herself a place in the society. When we last spoke, she said that  she no longer wanted to return to Turkey. However, the goal was when she first went to America to return to Turkey after completing her master's degree.

So why are we afraid of being stranger? I think the most important reason for this is the fear of being discriminated against. Unfortunately, when there is a minority group somewhere, the chances of being discriminated against also increase. People are very prejudiced against differences. These prejudices are also the biggest obstacle in communicating with people. Sometimes we are so attached to our own truths that we keep a distance from everything that is different. However, when differences come together, a beautiful harmony can emerge. A very good communication can be established within the framework of respect. I hope one day we all act with this awareness.

We have come to the end in this post. I hope you enjoyed reading. See you in the next post :)

 

People are often worried about slums and people living in slums. Actually, this concern is about themselves. The reason for this is that  generally disadvantaged groups live in slums. People associate theft, extortion and similar incidents with the people living here. This brings prejudice with it. Now I want to explain this situation with an example from my own life. I got high scores in the exams we took while I was passing to high school and I could write the schools I wanted in the top rows. But for the sake of guarantee, I thought of writing Yıldırım Beyazit Anatolian High School in the bottom row. Although it is a high-rated school, my parents never asked me to write this school because of its position. The school was very close to Ankara's famous "Çinçin Mahallesi". And we heard so much about this place ... the most thing we heard was that even the police were hesitant to enter this neighborhood. For these reasons, my family did not want me to write the school. In fact, although it is a place we have never been to in our lives, we have made this decision according to what we have heard.

 To sum up, slums often make a bad impression on people. I hope you enjoyed this post. See you in the next one :)))

First of all, I want to say that I am totally positive about graffiti. Not every person expresses himself/herself verbally. Some choose such a path and will be quite successful. Sometimes I come across beautiful examples while walking on the road. Some thoughts are expressed so strikingly that one is astonished. So should graffiti always send a message? I think this is a decision the artist must make himself/herself. Sometimes he might want to draw for fun. Sometimes it can give a message about a social issue. The most important thing to be aware of in this matter is not to make discrimination. If the artist draws a drawing that degrades black people, unfortunately we cannot speak of freedom here. Because in this case, the artist restricts the freedom of black people. In other words, people should not be dragged into chaos. As long as there is no situation like this, there is no problem. When I was in high school, our school principal had reserved a wall in the garden entirely for graffiti and thanks to the people who worked on this work, a very good result was achieved.

 In short, I do not think negatively about graffiti. I also think that people who have worked on this issue should be supported as much as possible. Now, we have come to the end in this post. Thank you so much for reading !

You think, what difference can it be when it comes to security and safety, right? I thought about this when I first heard about it, and I had a hard time finding the differences. Basically, safety is a protection against unintented accidents. On the other hand, security is a protection against planned dangers. We can relate this more to criminal events. It is an example of safety that people wear sheltered clothing when in contact with chemical products. On the other hand, security guards in shopping centers are an example of security. Because here is a matter of protection against certain factors. Theft, assault etc. On the other hand, security can also be associated with more crowded environments. (Ensuring public safety in general.) In the year 2016, Turkey was getting too many terrorist attacks. Bombs were constantly exploding in crowded places. For this reason, crowded places were controlled with much tighter control. People were being checked at subway entrances. More police were sent to such places. This is actually an example of security.

 In short, although safety and security seem the same, they are different concepts from each other. I hope you enjoyed my post. Thank you very much for your time.

urban transformation is a concept that we all hear and see quite often.So is it as beneficial for everyone as it seems? Old houses need to be renewed in terms of security. However  most of the time, homeowners don't want this. The
reason for this is that they think that they will not be financially sufficient
after urban transformation. especially they complain about the dues prices. If
they pay a fee of 50 TL previously, this price can triple after urban
transformation. Another problem is the width of the houses. Contractors can
deliver 150 square meters of homes to their homeowners as 80 square meters. In fact, the homeowners are not able to get their full rights in this case.

 

Because of the reasons I mentioned, people can oppose urban transformation. I think that homeowners should be given their rights as they are for the safety and happiness of people. Thus, people do not have to move from the neighborhood where they have lived for a long time. We have come to the end in this blog post. I hope you liked it. See you.:))

 

 

Hello everyone, In my blog today, I
will talk about garden cities.

I can say that the garden cities give me a lot of peace
in terms of appearance. As we live in crowded and irregular cities today, we
are all looking for a natural environment, necessarily. Garden cities offer
alternatives in this respect. Well-kept houses with gardens can give us some
relief in the city crowd. I have been living in Ankara since I was born. I
yearn for green space amidst crowded streets and buildings. It is very good to
go to the park and get fresh air whenever possible. For this reason, I often
say I wish most of the houses were with garden and detached. Maybe the stress
of city life would have been alleviated. For this reason, most people living in
the apartment, especially during the pandemic period, decided to buy themselves
an empty plot and build a house. In my opinion, I wish there were houses with
gardens instead of high-rise buildings in most districts of Ankara. I will add
a picture below the post to understand how beautiful such a layout can be. We
have come to the end in this blog post. Thank you for reading :)))

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this article, I mentioned about the importance of municipalities and how important they are, especially during the pandemic. I hope you liked my post. It was a great pleasure for me to share my thoughts with you. Thank you for everything :) Stay healthy.