Urban approach must change

With the pandemic, the importance of new urbanism emerged once again. Konya City Planners Chamber President Münir Günay, who made evaluations on the subject, said, "The collective indoor shopping units will not be as popular as before, there are slightly more open spaces, there are street and avenue relations, there is a walking shopping unit, the Konya City Planners Chamber makes evaluations about cycling. Its president, Münir Günay, we need to direct the planning. I think we should abandon the building, which is safe inside but becomes unsafe when you step into the street and damages the concept of neighborhood belonging, ”he said.

‘KONYA IS A PLANNED CITY’

Giving the information that Meram is a current natural site in Konya, Günay said, "Ecological corridors were already planned in Konya's current development plans. There is an ecological corridor planned for about 23 kilometers between Konya center and campus. These are very important for the city because the city breathes. For the formation of air corridors and microclimate, the passing channels and streams should not be built up. Unfortunately, we cannot see any of the ecological corridors in cities with speed. Then there is Thursday market, Nene Hatun Park, tramway, a disconnected green corridor up to the campus. There is a corridor of 80 meters prepared from the entrance of Ankara Road.

‘THE PUBLIC SPACE SHOULD NOT BE SEPARATED FROM THE CITY’

Defending that public property should not be separated from it by making it the subject of private property, Günay said, “There is an area in the corridor between the new stadium and Sille. There is a corridor separated by plans from the Valley of the Butterflies to Silley, which takes it inside. A corridor of approximately 250 meters was created in order not to open to construction on the periphery of the new ring road. We consider it positive in this respect. After filtering from natural and physical thresholds, it is absolutely not true that areas such as streams and streams that pass through are subject to planning and are open to construction. The issue of turning the public into private property by transforming public spaces into private property was not much in Konya. The old bus station area has interrupted the Green Corridor, which continues with Nenehatun Park, from Kayalıpark, where the current Tower Site Mall is located. This area cannot be sustained from Nene Hatun Park. ”He gave his statements.

‘THE IMPORTANCE OF SEMI-OPEN SPACES HAS ARRIVED’

Saying that semi-open spaces are important for the future, especially with the pandemic, Günay said: “The construction of spaces with walking distance due to the pandemic were concepts related to planning. We think that it is necessary to pay attention to planning units in the form of units that people can access in 15 minutes. When you step into such a huge, closed, secure street, we have to give up the unsecured sites as soon as possible. These are absolutely absent in the process we now call new urbanism. Europe has experienced and abandoned this. Especially in this pandemic it was seen that; people try to get access to everything by vehicle in some way. But there is a curfew, we are talking about shopping within walking distance, we are talking about service units within walking distance. We now need to reflect this in planning. I think we need to make plans with self-sufficient sub-centers, not single-center development. Our President has emphasized in the City Planning Councils for four or five years, we should turn to horizontal architecture, which is a little more humane, and we should re-establish the neighborhood we long for.

‘HE NEIGHBORHOOD SHOULD DEVELOP’

Emphasizing the need for development of neighborhood belonging, Günay said, “There are sites that are sold for 1.5 million lira. Whether you do this in the A neighborhood but also in the B neighborhood, nothing will change. Because people prefer it not because of the neighborhood, but because of the services offered within the site, and there is no neighborhood belonging. The world has now tested this, abandoned many things. We still insist on this. We produce solutions for this. We must return from this mistake as soon as possible. We have to establish units and settlements that establish the neighborhood, neighborhood belonging and security by themselves. "I think streets and streets should be integrated into this rather than gigantic multi-storey car parks."

SÜMEYRA KENESARI / YENİ HABER