Impact of Bridges on Spatial Transformation of Urban Pattern: The case of Golden Horn, Istanbul

Abstract

[EN] Transportation projects especially subways, bridges and new transportation modes gained importance in İstanbul in the last decades. The Golden Horn Metro Bridge, which connects two parts of the European side of İstanbul and has a station on the bridge, has caused criticisms not just because of having these unique characteristics but also because of the effects of the bridge on the silhouette of Historical Peninsula. The main aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of bridges on urban pattern and to explore the different influences of metro and vehicular bridges. Within this scope, three bridges located over the Golden Horn, which created connections between historical site of İstanbul and the newly developed CBD, are chosen as study case. Areas within 1km zones around the bridges are analysed separately, and the urban pattern (street pattern, block size, building utilization) is investigated comparatively through GIS. The layers of the past geographies (Historical GIS) and the Space Syntax (angular segment based integration and choice) analyses are conducted for demonstrating the changes in the spatial organization. The findings indicate that the study area has transformed into more divided streets and urban blocks and the number of buildings increased through time. Moreover, it is observed that the metro-rail bridge system has less impact on urban pattern when compared with the vehicular bridges. This study contributes to urban planning/design not only by analysing comparatively the transformation of the urban pattern during the pre- and post-construction processes of the bridges but also by evaluating the impact of the bridges through a quantitative and innovative method.