Architectural Education for Sustainable Urban Regeneration

Abstract

Urban regeneration is one of the important agendas of Turkey as a developing country. Rapid urbanization problems have been causing vital social and economic problems together with physical and spatial ones especially in  big cities of Turkey. Thus, national and local governments handled urban regeneration as a practical method for solution of these problems. However, they unfortunately don’t implement urban regeneration according to its real requirements. Instead, this multi-dimensional and complex process is seen as a pull down and built up operation. Considering this situation and being in awareness of the responsibilities of architects throughout urban regeneration process, the authors think that urban regeneration should be discussed in the scope of architectural education.  This paper presents the purpose, the process and the products of an undergraduate architectural design studio that was undertaken at Bursa Uludağ University, Faculty of Architecture. The architectural and urban design projects of the students of which aim was to offer a livable and sustainable mixed used living environments are discussed together with their conceptual backgrounds. Putting stress on the differences between theory and practice, the conclusion introduces a critical evaluation of urban regeneration and sustainable housing concepts in Turkey.