Archipelago as a tool to study urban form: the case of Ankara

Master's Thesis: Ezgi Nur Güngör (Bilkent University, 2022)

Advisors: Giorgio Gasco, Yiğit Acar (Co-Advisor)

The study discusses the exploration of the theme of "archipelago" as a tool to study urban forms, focusing on the case of Ankara. It highlights the contrasting nature of the city and urbanization in urban morphology literature, with urbanization being a concept coined by Cerda. The dichotomy between these two terms influences the physical form of the city and gives rise to tensions resulting from architectural production processes. Typology, a discourse encompassing various formative theories, seeks to reveal and analyze these contradictions. The theory of autonomous form, which isolates the physical form from external influences, has produced radical concepts such as the "archipelago," metaphorically representing architectural formations resembling islands based on their typology. Ankara, as the capital city of Turkey, has experienced this dichotomy throughout its planning periods, resulting in a diverse range of urban forms. Despite the contradictions, Ankara possesses a significant domain of autonomous forms in terms of urban morphology. The thesis aims to explore and conceptualize Ankara as an archipelago, transforming the diagram of autonomous forms into a generative matrix to discover alternative urban forms.